


Glitch in the City

by SpiritOfRei



Category: VA-11 Hall-A (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Comfort/Angst, Crying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Feels, Isekai, Original Character(s), POV Male Character, POV Third Person, Post-Canon, Self-Insert, Serious, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-11 09:28:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 22,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28349178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpiritOfRei/pseuds/SpiritOfRei
Summary: A long day is slowly wrapping up, and Rei is heading home for the night. Entering his home, he makes himself ready for bed, then lays down and closes his eyes, soon fast asleep. Hours later, his eyes open sleepily, and looks around.Finally, a dream about Glitch City. Or was it?This is a story of Rei’s new life in Glitch City, and the days he spent with his new friends at the Va-11 Hall-A bar...My 1st fanfiction! There is also a WIP image adaptation of this and links will be given if asked.This story originated from a roleplay (Chapter 1,2,3,5, and 6.) that abruptly ended from the other person's side which I wanted to preserve to turn into a story/continue it. Roleplayer was called Dagenheart for credit as they were still part of the original story for roleplaying everyone except me. They are free to request a takedown of this fanfiction if they should ever see this and wish for it. Further credit to Requiell from the Sukeban Discord server among others from there + other VA-11 HALL-A servers for helping me.That is all. Enjoy the story.
Relationships: Jill Stingray/Original Male Character(s)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 38





	1. Arrival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A fan of VA-11 HALL-A suddenly ends up in Glitch City from a random dream. What happens next? Who knows?

It had been a long day at where Rei lived, and he really needed sleep, so once he got back home he instantly went to his bed for some well deserved rest. Then, after a while, he fell asleep and ended up having a dream, one he had been wanting for a while.

He was finally having a dream about one of his favourite games, VA-11 HALL-A. He even instantly realised it, he was in Glitch City and it was night as it always seemed to be, happy that he could finally take in all of the City. Then, looking around for a bit, he noticed the bar he'd always wanted to be at, Va-11 Hall-A, and anxiously entered, expecting to meet Jill, hoping he wouldn't be too anxious at finally seeing her.

Jill sighed while she was fidgeting with a cup. Unsurprisingly, it had been a pretty quiet night. The boss was at the office and Gil was... somewhere. The doorbell rang though, and she sprung into action and tried to hide the boredom in her face. At the doorstep, a young blonde guy stood looking around with the stare of a kid with a new toy. "Welcome to Va-11 Hall-A. What may I serve you?" is the first thing Rei heard from her.

Trying to not make his anxiousness obvious and make things weird, Rei walked in and quickly sat down, answering Jill's question with "S-Sugar Rush." The most common and well known drink in this bar, the first and only thing he could think of as an answer.

He then started to think of how he should interact with Jill, trying to make the most of this dream but choosing not to open up so quick with all these emotions to not to scare her and end up being thrown out of the bar by Dana, being banned from it and thus the dream being wasted. It just felt like this was all going too fast but at the same time it obviously wasn't.

"Hmm, a classic to start up the night.", Jill thought while she began to mix the drink. It's obvious that he was nervous about something, so she took the license to add a couple touches of Karmotrine to make him open up more, otherwise a cool drink would be in order if he asked for it, though he probably could only think of a Sugar Rush at the time which she assumed, shrugging it off and not wanting to pry to make him more anxious. "There you go. Enjoy your drink, Mr...?"

"R-Rei." is all he said, as he took the Sugar Rush and started to drink it fast, turning away from Jill. He needed time to think and compose himself, the girl he always loved was right in front of him and any weirdness could ruin his chance of starting a friendship with her in the future if he were to have more dreams about this bar.

As Rei turned around, Jill shrugged a bit and leaned on the counter. "Haven't seen you here before, so I take it this is your first time? We don't get too many new customers taking into account the secluded location of this establishment." She at least wanted to try to start some conversation with him to lighten things up a bit.

As Rei turned to Jill slightly, pausing his drinking, her question scared him slightly and made him start to shake, since telling her this is a dream for him would be extremely creepy and would weird Jill out, so he quickly said as much as he could while trying to keep it secret, saying "Y-Yeah, it is..."

Jill raised an eyebrow, asking "Are you... okay? You're shaking like a corpo chihuahua. Are you in any kind of trouble?" confused and also concerned about this new client at the bar. Even if Rei was in trouble though, Jill knew the bar's defences would keep him safe, or Dana would step in and confront the offender if there were one.

Rei sighs, thinking to just get this over with even though he didn't want to open up to Jill so quick. He just had a feeling this dream would end soon and that he'd miss his chance, finally saying "J-Jill... I've known you for a while." He even began to cry saying this, he just didn't want to waste the little time he had in this dream, and there were no guarantees for anymore dreams of this, so he had to say something.

"Umm... I'm afraid I can't say the same." Jill's eyebrow raised even more, curious and confused at to what he meant. This new client knew her well and for a while? how?

Rei sighed again, contradictorily realising continuing on what he meant would make things bad for him as he just thought, saying "I-It's nothing... You're just popular I guess." Wiping away his small amount of tears and continuing to drink the Sugar Rush.  
That was probably his only chance in this dream to talk to Jill about personal things, and it was wasted. But what could he do? He just couldn't stand to freak Jill out and make her dislike him.

"Popular? Me?..." Jill looked puzzled for a moment and then she sighed. "Oh god... Is it because Kira Miki was here? Or was it the forums again?" She had an unpleasant history with Kira Miki, she always attracted her obsessed fans to this bar. And the forums were always a random wildfire too.

Wanting to fix himself up to not look like a mess anymore and finish the drink, Rei answered her question, saying "I-I guess both, I've heard she's been to your bar many times now, which is rare for any place, you're quite lucky." as he smiled at Jill, trying to have some actual conversation instead of this being one sided and going nowhere.

"So I've been told a couple of times now. And yeah, before you ask, this is her signature. She signed the glass when she was here." Jill told Rei as she took the glass and passed it to him so he could see, in case he wanted proof that Kira Miki did indeed visit this bar once or twice, the signature which Streaming-chan was so jealous of.

"I bet people were really shocked when they saw this, huh? I heard even that streaming girl even came her a few times, can imagine her reaction to this, heh." Rei said as he read it and passed it back, happy to now have an actual conversation with Jill instead of being weird and anxious, trying his best.

Jill chuckled with a hint of friendly sarcasm. "Not really. She was way more interested in asking if I was wearing underwear or if I had got laid recently." Not having the most pleasant of times with her visits at the bar, which Rei remembered.

Wanting to change the topic to avoid making things too uncomfortable for himself, Rei asked "So, how long have you been working here, Jill? This honestly seems like a great place to work, and someone like you seems perfect for this type of job. You're very skilled." wanting to know more about her work life to understand her better.

"Oh really? I just gave you a sugar rush. It's one of the most basic drinks I can get you. But I appreciate the compliment anyways." Jill said as she smiled and looked at the ceiling. "Not been working here for too long to be honest. Couple of months. And I don't even know if I'll be much longer. The company that owns us might end up closing the bar soon." informing Rei that her job was pretty much temporary.

"I can't imagine that happening, some nice place suddenly being closed down, and someone like you having nowhere to work? Thinking about it isn't nice." said Rei, wanting to compliment both Jill and the bar. Though Rei thankfully knew Jill, Dana and Gil would be always be okay in the future.

"Pretty optimistic of you. Know a guy that literally classifies this place as a hellish shithole." Jill was going to keep talking when suddenly the bathroom door opened from behind and someone peeked over, screaming "Argh, damn those furry pests. I found a turd sitting behind the sink - but the thing is, I looked there already. Multiple times. But there it is, like it just appeared out of thin air. I have to talk to Dana, about letting DOGS in a BAR."

Suddenly, Gil was interrupted by Dana, saying "Gil, I'm not barring them. I love those things and they paid good money to rent the bar for three days, cleaning included. Keep working." Gil then sighed and went back in, followed by Dana noticing Rei, saying "Oh hello. Didn't see you there." as she looked at him and made a military salute. "Hope you are enjoying the place, boy."

"T-thanks Dana..." Rei quickly said, a bit startled by her sudden appearance, though appreciating her company since he also liked Dana in the game he played and thus now trying to be friendly to her, since her bad side is scary and her good side is sweet and soft.

"Oh, you know me? Have we met? Do I owe you money?" Dana asked as she tilted her head a bit thinking real hard, wondering who this new client was and how he knew her.

Suddenly being worried that he went a bit too far with his outside knowledge, Rei quickly rubbed the back of his head and said "N-No, it's nothing..." He didn't want to suddenly raise suspicion and make Jill or Dana think he was a stalker or some other dangerous individual that knew them too much.

"Oh, good! Anyways, I'll leave you both to it. Enjoy the bar! And give me a shout when you're out for break, Jill. Bbbbbbbbyeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Dana said as she stormed out of the bar into her office and Jill sighed, wanting to apologize on behalf of Dana, saying "My apologies. Boss is... too energetic sometimes. But she's a nice person."

Rei laughed a bit, saying "No worries, she seems like a funny person, just another unique person in this nice bar." He was fortunately starting to get comfortable with Jill and talking with her, not really feeling much anxiety anymore.

"That she is. But don't get too chummy with her. She could literally volley you over a megabuilding if she wanted. Ex-fighter, actually-" Jill opened her mouth to say something, but she ended up closing it suddenly, looking to one corner of the bar. And Rei instantly noticed that she started to make weird faces, almost as if she was trying to hide that she was speaking with someone.

Instantly realising that Anna was here, and that she was trying to talk with Jill hence the weird faces, Rei became pretty anxious that Jill wasn't the only one able to see her anymore. Clearing his throat, he asked "Jill...? Are you okay?" to try and distract her, so Anna couldn't make Jill look weird and mess things up for the both of them.  
He also didn't want to say anything about him being able to see Anna too, as he noticed her next to him too. He also didn't want to say any of the knowledge he had about her via the game either so that Jill wouldn't freak out and constantly question him.

Jill then snapped out of it thanks to Rei, quickly saying "Oh! Yes. Sorry about that. Also... If you are going to order something else to drink, the dispenser needs you to pay for your first drink too." Rei could then almost hear a ghostly chuckle somewhere, as if Anna seemed to know that he was not from Glitch City, but how? And now, it seemed like Jill was on to him.

Becoming worried that Anna also knows who he was too, Rei tried to think about what to do, just roll with it? I guess he had no choice to avoid any bad outcomes, and suddenly hearing Jill's response made him jump out of shock, quickly replying with "Y-Yes! Sorry..." Quickly opening his wallet but only seeing a random card that somehow clearly had money from Glitch City, though having no choice but to use it, hoping it belonged to him for whatever reason. He then became fearful at what would happen soon if Anna kept messing around with them, going back to his previous thoughts.

Jill then seemed to sternly look to a corner for a second but in a flash, she was back with Rei. "Sorry for asking so suddenly. It's just these stupid machines don't allow more drinks to be served without credits being cashed. And talking about drinks, is there something else I can serve you?"

"O-Oh... Um, not yet, thanks. I don't really drink much of anything any day..." Rei was clearly quite anxious, the person called Anna only Jill knows somehow was present for him too as he recently found out, and worst of all, she had to of known who he was with that laugh, trying to collect his thoughts. This clearly wasn't good, he'd get in trouble with Jill or someone at this rate the next time she shows up due to her love of mischief.

"You sure you're okay? You're getting pale." Jill sighed as she cracked her knuckles gently, serving Rei a big sugar rush. "There. This one's on me. I don't know what's happening to you, but you look like you need it." Though it was for a few seconds, she also had a quick thought of Rei possibly somehow being able to see Anna too, but she quickly paid it no mind, as that'd clearly be impossible to her.

Rei grit his teeth a bit as he vowed to make sure Anna didn't mess anything up, he couldn't let his anxiety over this ruin him and the chance to continue to be with Jill and to make the most of this unusually long dream. Facing back to Jill and taking the drink, he said "I'm really sorry, I've just... got a lot on my mind right now, but I'm fine, don't worry."

"Hmm I see. Please, enjoy the drink and try to relax. I'll go take my break if you don't mind. Be back soon." Jill screamed for Dana to know and put on her jacket, also asking Gil to take over as she exited through a back door. Gil was then in place of Jill, going behind the counter, asking Rei "Do you need anything?" noticing he didn't look the best.

Being suddenly surprised by Gil being there and taking over for Jill, Rei quickly responded with "N-No, I'm fine, don't worry." He wasn't that big of a fan of long constant periods of talking, it just drained his social battery so to speak, and thus he wanted to be left alone for a bit.

"I see. No problem then, I hope you're enjoying this mess of a bar. I'll go back to my work." Gil responded, going back to his scrubbing of the bar.

As soon as he left however, Rei heard a chuckle again. But this time, he directly saw Anna, sitting cross-legged behind the counter with a cheeky smile on her face and staring directly at Rei.


	2. Danger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was no dream anymore.

Anna was there. Right there, in front of Rei, able to see and interact with him fully. He was simply stuck, frozen as he couldn't help but shake, the only words escaping his mouth being "Y-you!".

"Me." Anna simply said as she chuckled and placed her head on one hand with a cheeky grin. "Seems like we got ourselves a little dimension hopper, huh? Interesting, quite interesting. And by the way, you're shaking like a little rabbit every time she speaks, so we got ourselves a little dimension hopper madly in love with little ole' Jill back there, huh? Oh boy, this is going to be fun."

"W-wait, so this isn't a dream? I'm somehow here for real?! How?!" is all Rei could say in response to Anna with his mind being overloaded with thoughts and questions as he couldn't stop shaking, this revelation breaking Rei. Now he knew why this felt like an unusually long dream, it simply wasn't a dream.

"Dream? Oh-hoh no no. You're here here as far as I can tell. And I don't have the slightest idea how you got here. But it must have been some weird time-space fuckery, because you're speaking with me even though I'm supposed to be dead..." Anna explained as she floated around Rei with a smile on her face, booping his nose.  
Though she got curious, asking "You seem to know us pretty well too. Back there with Dana it was quite obvious. Who are you?" Wondering how Rei has knowledge of her, Dana, etc.

Rei turned away from her, proceeding to quickly say "D-Do you really need to know? Just... leave me alone, this isn't the time for this..." Rei just wanted her to go away at this point, he could barely keep himself together after the revelation she told him, and just needed time to collect his thoughts.

"Oooooh mysterious too, hmmm? I'mma go get the popcorn. Don't want to miss this by any means. But don't worry, I'll keep your little secret... for now. Buh-byeeee." With an almost evil smirk, Anna disappeared into thin air at the same time Jill came back from her break, proceeding to take off her coat and walk back behind the counter, resuming her shift.

Rei didn't know what to think, he just stood there with his eyes closed and his fist clenched. He realised how she was going to make his life hell because of the person she is in this bar, how he probably wouldn't survive in this place from having nowhere to live in Glitch City, and so on, and thus he hit the wall with the side of his fist hard out of anger, wondering how he could fix any of this and get back home from this obvious cruel nightmare.

"Woah woah, easy there. Has the wall insulted you in any way?" Jill got startled a bit by the punch on the wall but tried to calm Rei down gently, she didn't like to see an angry or distressed client after all, and she always knew that something was happening with him, given his constant anxiety and such ever since he came to this bar.

Realising Jill was right there when he had punched the wall, Rei instantly retracted and quickly said "I-I'm very sorry!" in a polite tone, he didn't want to damage any part of the bar while anyone else was right there, it'd make him look pretty bad. He then quickly returned to his seat, also answering her question with "I'm just really going through a lot at the moment, d-don't worry." He didn't want to raise suspicion and to make her worry even though he had overused the term don't worry at this point.

"Well, you're in a bar, with a drink on the counter and a bartender on the other side of it. Why don't you get all of it off your chest instead of punching a wall. It's not as if I'm going to immediately go on the internet and tell everyone about your problems. I'm here to make drinks and change lives!" She smiled reassuringly, taking out all of her bartender training even though she was a bit of a mess on the inside with everything that had been going on lately.

"Jill... I can't tell you everything, but I can at least tell you some things." Rei needed to be careful, ending up somehow revealing his origin could end up with him getting killed, or thrown out of this bar, or some other bad thing. Though he realised he could just tell her his current situation regarding his status in this city, being homeless and not having a job, and just that.

"Don't worry, I understand. We're in Glitch City. If you don't have any secrets in Glitch City you are either dead or a dangerous psychotic criminal. And you don't strike me as any of those two. So go ahead. Tell me what you can." She wanted to reassure Rei and calm him down, also wanting to understand at least some of his anxiousness ever since he came in this bar.

Rei gulped and sighed, getting ready to tell Jill the 2 things he planned to at the moment, and with a stern look, he bluntly said "I'm broke and homeless. That's all I can say..." Tensing up as he felt all of this was some cruel joke by some god or something, also hoping saying just those 2 things wouldn't end up making things bad for him as he was being very careful in most things he said towards Jill.

Sadly, two of the more common citizenship states around these parts.  
Jill sighed as she leaned on the counter, trying to offer advice to Rei by saying "Have you tried hitting the Town Hall? I've heard they're opening Civil Guard posts now that the White Knights were disbanded." She was fairly sad that someone completely nice like him was in such a bad situation.

"W-Well, I barely know any of Glitch City to be honest, only this bar, for personal reasons." Rei said as he tried to keep his cool but was clearly shaking now. He didn't know what to think, how could he do anything in this city like own a home without a previous existence? And how much could he even say while trying to hide his origin of being in a normal world and seemingly ending up here from a dream that turned out not to be one?

"So you're new in town indeed, huh? And sorry if I'm nosey... but do you even have citizenship papers to reside here?" Jill asked as she looked at Rei with a soft understanding expression. She really did feel bad for him in this situation. No home nor money? She didn't want to think about it too much.

"...I don't." Is all Rei said as he proceeded to look at the floor with a pretty sad expression. He couldn't really say anything else, not without revealing even a part of his origin, even by mistake, as he kept repeating to himself in his head.

Jill sighed and looked at Rei with a sad and concerning expression, tilting her head a bit. "Well, gotta admit I understand your nervousness now then. You are what scientists call all shades of screwed." She said as she laughed a bit trying to joke. "But... Don't know why but this place has a knack for reuniting people that are all kinds of screwed. I'm afraid I can't help you myself, as I can barely pay my own rent. Buuuuut... maybe if you ask politely and give her the puppy look, the Boss will find you something to do and somewhere to stay temporarily. 'Specially if you give her the puppy look." She said, informing him that Dana was a clear option for solving his homelessness if he wanted.

"I don't think that'd be possible. I'd never beg for something, especially like that, it's just embarrassing. And w-well, Dana scares me sometimes, I guess I just prefer a different type of woman!" Rei randomly said trying to laugh it off as a joke to lighten the mood all of a sudden like Jill did to try to make himself feel better.

"Don't worry lad, you're not my type either." Dana suddenly said, peeking through one of the doors giving Rei a -.- chibi look.

Rei blushed, suddenly realising that Dana had been listening, saying "S-sorry!" pretty fast and as polite as he could. Dana's bad side was pretty scary after all, and he was worried that he had done something pretty wrong to offend her by saying she wasn't his type.

"Couldn't help but accidentally overhear your predicament, And honestly, I could arrange something for you if you really need it. Or you go your way and look for a warm dumpster to sleep. Your choice." Dana said, making Jill chuckle and lean towards Rei, speaking as low as she could, saying "She was peeping. She loves gossip even though she does her best to deny it."

Suddenly, Rei stood up from his stall. If this worked out, he would be saved from a cruel death. He then bowed, saying "I would appreciate any help you could give me please!", trying to be as polite and as nice as he could to win Dana's favour, not wanting to be denied this one chance for survival.

"See? It wasn't that hard was it? I'll make a few calls and see if I can come up with something. But don't expect it to come for free, pal. If I can manage to get something, you'll have to pay your share by working here at Va-11 Hall-A. I'm sure our lad, John, will be more than happy to have a pack mul... erm... assistant around. Sounds good?"  
Dana raised an eyebrow in an intimidating manner after raising the question to Rei, but he could see a glimpse of teasing amusement in her eyes. Jill was busy smiling behind the counter too, enjoying maybe a bit too much the situation and mentally drooling over Dana.

Standing up straight, hearing her threatening words near the end, Rei quickly said "Y-yes! I'd be happy to work here!" his heart beating fast, not really picking up on the non serious side of her speech, only ever being able to tell when things aren't serious when they were pretty obvious.

"That's that, then. I'll be back later. Keep good care of him, Jill." Jill nodded in reply as she turned back to Rei with a smile. "See? Told you she'd get something. She is scary sometimes, but deep inside, she's a fluffy softie." Suddenly, a little chalk piece came flying from the office and hit Jill directly in her forehead, making her emit a cute squeal. "Sorry boss! You are a tough as nails murder-inator 3000!" Dana's voice then came muffled from the office in reply, shouting "THAT'S BETTER!"


	3. Friendship

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rei was soon to personally know the kindness of Jill and Dana.

The rest of the night went by slowly and silently, while Jill tended to the bar and spoke with Rei more. Jill sighed as she stretched, saying "Well, another quiet night. You've been the only client, Rei. Seems like this bar is still as unknown as it's always been!" She was happy that Rei got to stick around so long now, otherwise there'd be no clients at all today, and she wouldn't have had someone like him to talk to.

"You've got that right, I'm so bored. Nothing to do, nowhere to go, except be here and talk to you." Rei said before yawning and smiling. "I'm really glad to have met you Jill, you're honestly an amazing person." At this point, Rei had gotten pretty comfortable with Jill, able to talk with her normally without much anxiety at all. He just needed time really.

"Am I an amazing person or am I boring? Make up your mind!" Jill said in a tone that clearly said that she was just teasing him. As soon as she finished though, the door opened and Dana walked in with a bright smile on her face. "Well well, you're a lucky chum, Ross. I managed to get you one of the BTC housing program apartments for a few weeks!" Dana was happy that she could work something out for a person like Rei who obviously didn't deserve any of his current circumstances.

Completely ignoring the fact she messed up his name, Rei instantly rushed to Dana and hugged her tight, even about to cry. "Thank... Thank you so much..." He had now been saved by having a place to live thanks to her, and had the utmost gratitude.

Rei's hug was firm. Dana was quite shocked at the gesture but she let herself slip once more. There's something that moved her heart, memories of her past started flooding in and she nearly cried. Jill herself was quite shocked at the sight seeing that Dana wasn't usually someone for hugs.

"Curb your optimism! You'll have to pay rent at the end of the month though, so you better work hard around here to save enough! But... it's a good start." Dana could tell Rei was really thankful for being given a place to stay, and she appreciated the hug he gave her too.

Dana then realised it was time to close up shop and told Jill along with shouting for Gil to know as well, proceeding to start to take her time with such. "Rei, I'll be finished in 30 minutes, then I'll take you to your new home." as she yawned.

Jill decided to stay with Rei for the time being, saying to him "Don't want you all bored by yourself." They then proceeded to talk to each other about random stuff to pass the time. Once finished, Dana called for Rei and signalled for him to follow her, telling Jill she was done, Gil being long gone at this point. Jill then replied to Dana, saying "I'll be heading home too then. Fore must be bored as all hell. See you tomorrow boss. You too, Rei." She then took a pack of cigarettes from her purse and lighted one, walking away, smiling at both Dana & Rei and waving goodbye, the both of them also doing the same. They then both walked towards a hovercar parked in front of the alley outside, which Dana seemingly owned.

As Rei followed her outside towards the car, he asked "Would you really do this for me? I'm just a stranger as far as you know." He knew that Dana was a pretty nice person deep down, but he just had some lingering doubt and worry that nothing would work out somehow. Though he was still very thankful things did work out for him.

"Eh, what can I say. I'm a people person. And Jill seems to like you. She's been awfully polite all the time, even though she spends 90% of the time in her usual cynical bitchy mood." Dana said as she shrugged and opened the car, getting to the wheel, dismissing any quick thoughts she had about Rei somehow being in a relationship with Jill.  
"Plus, I'm sure Gil will appreciate the help. Running a bar is not only about bartending. There's also delivery hauling, advertising, logistics, negotiation etc... You'll come in handy, I'm sure... I expect." She said while being unable to help show her teasing side yet again.

As Rei got in the back seat, strapping himself in as he closed the car door, he explained "Look, if my life is on the line, I'll for sure work as hard as I can." He wanted to make it clear he was a hard worker, and that he'd work as hard as he could in Va-11 Hall-A to be able to keep his new place and also have enough money for food.

"No need to be dramatic. No one's life is on the line. Your apartment has enough food for a week. And when you run out, you'll probably had made enough to do groceries, don't worry." Clarifying Rei's situation to reassure him as Dana could tell he started to get a bit worried.

"But I can tell you're hiding something. No one simply pops into Glitch City without a home or money out of thin air." Dana's eyes seemed to sparkle with audacity for a moment after saying that, trying to think for a second or two about why he's even in Glitch City. But then, she laughed it off. "No need to say anything though. To each their own secrets. And as long as you're not planning a terrorist attack or something, none of my problem!" Dana said as she turned on the car and started flying towards the aerial freeway, headed to Rei's new home.

After a minute or so of silence, Rei spoke up, asking something as he wanted to break the ice and awkward silence currently. "Can I say something personal?" Even though Dana barely knew Rei, he felt like he could trust her given that he knew that she was a nice person overall especially given what she had given him now and was friendly with everyone and even took care of Jill during some dark moments.

"Shoot." Dana responded as the car began cruising through the megabuildings, as neon lights flashed all around while she wondered what Rei was going to say.

"I... have a thing for Jill. I-I really like her." Rei said awkwardly and nervously, really hoping Dana would be fine with him being at least interested in Jill and not being freaked out, waiting for a response in anxiousness, already regretting saying this.

Dana raised an eyebrow and looked through the back mirror. "...Not to be too brash, but you've literally known her for a few hours. Or have you been stalking her?" She was now suspicious of Rei, how could he have so much affection for someone he just met at a bar and also act like he's known her for a while? Jill wouldn't just keep some new friend hidden from her or Gil.

Rei immediately became scared, thinking of what to say in response, any mention of his origin at all could get him killed. Maybe he shouldn't have said anything in the first place about Jill, but it was too late, Dana was now pretty suspicious of him and Rei was in danger.  
He then decided to say "L-Look, I just have a habit of getting really attached to people I like." since that was a true thing about him, hoping that was good enough of a reason as to why he liked Jill a fair bit already.

"Oh, I see." Dana said as she passed the reason off as believable, and was prepared to give him advice about starting a friendship and relationship with Jill in Va-11 Hall-A.  
"Well, here goes my first Danatip for you. Relationships, specially the ones that hold a romantic component, are a two way street. If two people don't like each other, there's no relationship. If two people like each other, love blossoms. But when someone likes another and the other doesn't correspond... there's self-destruction. I don't know your circumstances, but if you want to somehow get close to Jill, don't become obsessive in making it known to her. You'll only freak her out and get her to hate you. Jill can be a bit brash herself sometimes. But hey, look at it this way... you've been given a chance to work in the same place as her. Instead of rushing things and looking for ways to tell her you like her, live your own life and don't overthink. Be yourself. With time, she might take a liking to you. Who knows? Or maybe she won't. But things like this can't be rushed without going full creep mode. You get my meaning?"

Dana spoke calmly and even warmly to Rei, and he couldn't detect any hints of hostility. She was indeed counselling him. Even after that suspicious event just, she could tell Rei wasn't really a malicious person, and had mostly good intentions, so she had good reason to give him the most advice she could.

Not being able to think of much as a response and not wanting to look like he was rejecting her help by wanting to ask how to not go overboard with his extreme love for Jill, Rei simply said "T-thank you Dana."  
He really appreciated everything that she said to him, which she could tell from the warm smile he gave alongside his response, and promised to himself to try to make sure he would follow it as best as he could, to be friends with Jill and everyone else, and have a normal life in the bar since it was one of the only places he even knew in Glitch City, the city which he was stranded in.

"No need to thank me. In fact, if you ever want to talk, I'll be a few steps away most of the time at the bar. Don't worry about asking for help!" Dana wanted to make sure that Rei knew he could always go to her in Va-11 Hall-A for support about anything if needed. He wasn't alone anymore after all. 

"Aaaaand changing topic, we are here!" Dana announced as she landed the hovercar in front of the massive apartment building next to them. She then got out with Rei and lead him towards the new apartment. "You'll be staying in apartment 54C. This elevator will take you right there. And these are your keys! Work starts at 10 PM every day. To get there, use the skytram that stops at the street somewhat near the bar. You'll hopefully be able to find your way from there. Any questions?"

"No... But, thank you so much for giving me a chance at living, I mean it." Rei really wanted to show as much appreciation as he could for Dana for giving him a temporary home in exchange for working at Va-11 Hall-A.

"Don't mention it. As I said, I'm a people person. And you do seem like a nice person. I don't know how or why you're in Glitch City, but it doesn't matter that much to me, as long as you don't cause any trouble with me or anyone else in Va-11 Hall-A, you're cool. Now, I'll see you tomorrow at work. Take care of yourself, alright? Night!" Dana said as she walked away towards the car, driving home.  
Rei was then alone in front of the elevator that took him to the apartment, ready to spend his 1st night in this new home of his, a miracle if exaggerated.

Rei then found himself in a relatively small apartment on the 54th floor, with a small kitchen, a small functional bedroom and a small living room and bathroom. But even like that, the living room had a massive window that gave a breath-taking view of Glitch City from high up.  
He didn't see a reason to go out and explore Glitch City though, as there was already food here and he was admittedly an introvert, so he preferred to stay inside. Plus, the city was dangerous and wasn't about to risk getting hurt.

Then, as the night went by and the sun came up, Rei eventually settled in bed and fell asleep, night came again, and the alarm clock began ringing, signalling 8 PM. Time to leave for work.


	4. Jill

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A small side story of Jill after she left Dana with Rei.

Jill finally finished work and started to go home, leaving Rei with Dana as they went to his new home.

On the way home herself though, Jill remembered to quickly visit JC Elton's to buy an item that had been bothering her the whole day. A Paper Lantern. It was yet another decoration for her apartment. Every day or so, she'd think of a new item that she'd want to buy which always distracted her while at work, thankfully buying said items most of the time before work and always having enough money for it. She was pretty much a regular at this store by now, so she could just go in, buy the item and leave with it quickly. 

Thankfully, there was only 1 client today at work, so her being distracted by an item she wanted this time didn't really matter much.

After getting the Paper Lantern and leaving, she then returned home, sighing after another long night of work, thankful that nothing really happened as she took off her coat and put it in the usual place.

Although she did get to meet Rei, an interesting individual that was new to Glitch City and felt mysterious in some way, like he was hiding something as she recalled him mentioning that he could only explain part of his situation, with his homelessness and having no money, and nothing else. 

Though she was happy Dana got to give him a home in exchange for working at Va-11 Hall-A, as he clearly was a person with no bad nature in the slightest and she wanted to know more about him now which she hoped to do tomorrow in his 1st night of work.

Shaking her head after being deep in thought about it, she snapped out of it and pet Fore, saying hi to him, before finally putting the Paper Lantern on her wall, being satisfied that she was able to buy another item she wanted. She then sat down next to her kotatsu and turned on the small television she owned, starting to relax now as she browsed her tablet reading news and blogs as usual with the sound of the TV in the background.

Eventually, she ended up in bed and decided to sleep early, being bored to death with nothing to do, ready to go to work tomorrow.

Then her alarm rang, hitting 8 PM like Rei's did. It was time to get ready for work.


	5. Work

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First day of work at Va-11 Hall-A. First time for everything.

It was weird suddenly being forced to a "Sleep in day, work at night." type lifestyle, but Rei had to adapt to it if he wanted to work at Va-11 Hall-A.

Before waking up though, he had a nightmare, a bad one. Anna's appearance in front of him yesterday followed with her knowing everything about him and telling him he's stuck in this world still shook him hard, and thus this nightmare about her constantly saying those things over and over made him wake up screaming for a second or two, breathing heavily, looking frantically around the room in fear, horrified she was in the room with him.

Thankful it was just a dream and not some bad omen, he got up out of bed and done his waking up duties such as showering and eating breakfast, preparing to leave for work. He then put back on his clothes from yesterday, which had dried overnight from washing as they were the only clothes he owned and then put his wallet in his pocket which was the only item he owned, wondering how this card randomly got here yesterday and was attributed to him, but he was thankful it still had a bit of money left as he left for work after he locked up the place with the keys Dana gave him yesterday.

After arriving at the bar via the skytram, still pretty early for work as it obviously seemed closed, he then went to knock on the door, assuming Dana, Jill or Gil was here before him, otherwise having to wait for either of them to show up if he wanted to get in the bar and prepare for his shift. Though before he did knock, he noticed a van near the back alley of the bar, and someone moving boxes. He then approached the van and wondered who was dealing with them. Could they be for the bar? He could at least help them.

As soon as Rei approached, the man became suspicious and looked at him with squinting eyes, who Rei instantly recognised. It's Gillian. "Umm... may I help you? You're not a cop, are you? Look, I'm just unloading these boxes. I work here you know?"

Assuming that Gil forgot who he was from their brief interaction yesterday and that he was a new employee at Va-11 Hall-A, Rei calmly said "Mind if I help you? I'm a new employee, thanks to Dana yesterday.", smiling at Gil to let him know nothing was wrong.

Gil blinked a couple times and sighed in relief. His behaviour became more friendly instantly. "Thank god, I thought you were a badge. You must be Rei, the new guy the boss mentioned yesterday? A pleasure! I vaguely remember you from yesterday, but it's fine. My name is Gillian. But people call me Gil!" He was happy he got to meet a new employee that seemed like a nice person that would obviously be great to work with. First impressions matter after all.

"Thank you Gil, and nice to meet you, you have a great name." Rei said as he chuckled a bit, starting to help Gil unload boxes as he spoke with him friendlily, getting to know one of his co-workers more since the game he played didn't have *too* much info about him. He was always a suspicious but nice guy and that was good enough for Rei.

"Well, you got yourself a pretty good job, let me say. Most of the time, I just sit at the bar doing nothing unless the boss needs something done. So you'll earn money for sitting in a stool, basically." Gil said as he joked around with Rei in an friendly way, extremely friendly actually... The kind of friendliness of a guy who just had sex.

"Well, since my life is on the line, as much as Dana liked to protest that yesterday, I'm determined to work as hard as I can." Rei wanted Gil to know that he was a hard worker and that such would apply in VA-11 HALL-A to always have enough money for him to survive via being able to pay rent and such.

"Don't worry too much about your life. Ever since the mayor gave the kick to the White Knights, crime has gone down in the city surprisingly. It's way safer than it was a couple weeks ago now. Though I still wear my iron around just in case." Gil said, wanting to reassure Rei as he hauled a couple of boxes inside. "Finish up with that box over there. And be careful with the branded bottle on top. It's a vintage. Someone left it as a gift for Jill. You know Jill right? The bartender?"

"...I do." Is all Rei could think of to say with a personal question being aimed at him. He didn't want to somehow open up too much about Jill to someone that barely knew him, proceeding to pick up the last box along with the bottle and handle it with as much care as he could to avoid breaking it and to ruin Jill's mood, carrying it inside.

Gil proceeded to put the boxes in a small storage room and signalled Rei to do the same. "When you're done, take the broom. You clean the bathrooms and I'll get the bar. Boss and Jill shouldn't take too long. Better have the bar prepared for them!" He said, instructing Rei as he turned on the media player and a track began playing.  
"So! Tell me about you! How did you end up here?" wanting to know more about his new co-worker in VA-11 HALL-A, hoping they could become nice friends to work better, as he couldn't sense any bad vibes coming from Rei.

Rei decided to lie to Gil and make up a fake story/origin for himself for protection, as he couldn't just reveal his origin and make everything horrible for himself like he kept thinking to himself. "I'm... just a tourist. I'm from somewhere else and I heard Glitch City was a nice place to go, somewhat, and I also heard great things about this bar. That's pretty much it." Rei explained, proceeding to pick up boxes and move them into the storage room.

Gil gave Rei a complicit smile and responded to his explanation, saying "A tourist, eh? Well, I hope you enjoy the city in all of it's decadence for what it's worth."  
He then winked at him. Gil definitely knew that he was hiding something, as a tourist wouldn't end up asking for help because he has no money or no place to stay, but it's Gil. He understands and even likes people that are trying to begin anew or run from their past.

"Thank you, Gil." Rei sighed, continuing to do his job, thankful that Gil is the type of person he is. His secret getting out would honestly kill him and of course, he didn't want that at all. Even if he told someone like Jill who he trusted, things could get out of hand and word could spread fast. He just needed to be careful like always.

"Hey Gil... R-*yawn*-Rei. Hi to you too." Jill said as she entered the bar, greeting both Gil and Rei. She looked sleepy in a really cute way. "Hi, Jill! Something came for you in the mail. Rei, can you give it to her, please?" Gil said asking Rei to give Jill that bottle he mentioned earlier.

Rei quickly remembered what he meant and handed the mentioned item to Jill with care, not being the best at handling items and making sure he didn't break this obviously important item. "H-Here." He was clearly nervous due to Jill being her, and also how cute she was at the moment due to being tired.

As soon as Jill saw the bottle, she took it and started to tippy-tap on the spot. "Ooh! This is a 20XX vintage Cyberdyne Brandy! Must have been Tim!" She exclaimed as she raced to the counter with a smile on her face and put the bottle neatly in her collection stand.

"Gotta say, that looks like a nice gift. I'm glad you're happy, Jill." Rei wanted to point out how nice her excitement was. It was cute and made him happy, smiling as he walked into the bar with Gil.

Jill looked at Rei and nodded energetically in response, explaining "This is a weird hobby of mine. The drinking industry has completely shifted over cyberinterfaces that apply the necessary ingredients for a drink. But I think it's a shame. It erases the memory of those mixers of old, that studied and tastes every single drink just to find matching combinations. Drink mixing was an art back then. Now... now it's just another cog in the economical machine." She looked both really excited and really sad while telling him.

Rei understood how much drink mixing and everything meant to Jill, and instead of wanting to hug her to comfort her and be weird which he didn't want, he simply closed his eyes and looked at the ground, like he was mourning that old technology with her, trying to show that he understood what she said perfectly.

Jill sighed as she gently slapped her cheeks, moving on. "Enough daydreaming though. Have you cleaned both the main hub and the bathrooms? It's getting close to opening time." Jill asked as Gil raised his hand. "I'm finished over here! The new blood, on the other hand..." Gil replied as he gave Rei a teasing wink and disappeared through a back door.

Rei thought about what he was supposed to do, taking a few seconds to think with a blank face, looking like a goof to Jill. Then he remembered he had to clean the bathrooms and jolted a bit, saying "S-Sorry, I forgot!" feeling kind of bad and heading to the bathroom quickly, starting to clean it as fast as he could to not disappoint Jill and try to show he was a hard worker. He just wanted to prove himself really.

Jill smiled warmly when Rei rushed to the bathroom to do his work and then began setting the music and the mixer. She could tell by his fast departure to do his task and his insistence on apologising that he was set on always trying his hardest in this job now. Though she then sighed with a sad face, worried that he'd end up working himself to death eventually if he was always going to be like this. "I hope this new blood takes it easy. He's got it bad enough as it is." After about 20-30 minutes, Rei finished his work in the bathroom and the bar was ready to open.

Back from his task, Rei looked at Jill and sadly said "S-Sorry I took so long." He always tried his best at jobs, never meaning to do less than what he's capable of. Also anxious at his first night of working, still getting used to actually being in this world as well since it was only his 2nd night here after all, clearly shaking which he couldn't help.

"Nothing to forgive, actually. You did a pretty good time! And look, please don't overwork yourself. I don't want someone nice like you starting to work here with me and Gil and then dying the next day." Jill said as she looked at Rei with a worried face, voicing her concerns about his attitude.

She then smiled at him and sighed. "It's probably gonna be another boring night, so sit on one of the tables over there on the right. If there's anything I need taken care of, I'll give you a holler. Oh, and ask away if you want something to drink." Jill explained, winking at him and starting to hum the tune in the media player.

Jill's affection to Rei made him smile slightly as he proceeded to go to one of the tables she pointed to, sitting down and taking this free time to finally reflect on his current situation, deep in thought as he started to look pretty sad.

He had a home thanks to Dana, but what about everything else? As far as he knew, he was trapped in this world forever, with a temporary home, with a temporary job, and his existence was completely new to this world which was only such since yesterday after seemingly falling asleep in the world he knew. He had a lot to think about, and tried to not cry with all those harsh conditions suddenly being put onto him. It also didn't help how he hadn't even really started his first night of this job yet, and didn't want to look weak or slacking or whatever, even with Jill being worried about overworking himself and telling him to take it easy.

"Aww look at you. Your dreams are becoming reality but even like that you sulk and shudder in a corner." Anna said as she materialized in front of him with a teasing smile. "Still having second thoughts about your new reality I see." She was disappointed that Rei was like this yet he wanted to be in this world in the first place. Though she just wanted an excuse to tease and mess with him.

Rei wasn't in the mood for Anna, he just wanted to be by himself for a few moments and think about things like his current situation, but now that she was here she'd just be a pain. And thus he simply ignored her, covering his eyes with his arms as he rested his head on the table, just needing some time alone.

"Awww. you're gonna give me the silent treatment?" Anna said as she put on a fake sad face. "You're breaking my heart, Rei. Specially taking into account I'm the closest you're going to get to a confidant in this reality without giving up your true nature." Trying to inform Rei that she was the only one who knew his origin and what he was going through, and thus she could help him, though help being a strong word.

Remembering that Anna could be talked to via thoughts, Rei simply tried to say "I'll... tell Jill when she's comfortable with me. I-I don't want to lose everything by getting kicked out." He wanted her to know that even though he didn't want to tell anyone his origin, he would at least do it with Jill in the future when she would become comfortable enough with him to reveal it.

"Tell Jill? Ooooooooooooh so you really do have a thing for her, huh?" Anna chuckled as she said that, floating in the air around Rei as her theory was finally confirmed, saying "An inter-dimensional traveller that falls in love with the protagonist of the story, huh? Sounds like a cheap cheesy soap opera in my opinion. But then again, I don't even know what I am. So this could prove quite interesting."

"You could never know how much I truly love Jill. She's the only one I trust and she's an amazing person. And I just can't keep this secret of my origin forever after all." Rei just wanted Anna to go away at this point. She was clearly annoying him and just made his emotions worse and thus him look worse. He just wanted some time alone with his thoughts.

Anna knew, and that was exactly what she wanted. She could see and feel every crack in Rei's conviction, and she was going to enjoy messing with him. "So, you think just because you love her, you think she'll end up coming to you and understanding how you feel?" She said, giggling in an unsettling way.

"I have bad news for you, boy. First of all, little ole' Julianne is madly in love with her boss, Dana. So you have a loosing hand in that sense. Second of all, she has confessed in the past that she swings more towards the feminine side. So that's another thing against you. Third of all, she just overwent a traumatic, ptsd inducing re-encounter with her deceased ex-girlfriend's sister. So that's ANOTHER thing against you. Tell me. How do you plan on turning the tide, huh? All by yourself?" Anna explained as she looked at Rei with an almost wicked expression. "Seems to me like you could REALLY use some external help, pal. You sure you want me to go away?" Presenting the question to him.

Hearing Anna try to point out why he'd never be with Jill, Rei simply laughed in his head over and over. He for sure now had something over Anna to use against her. "You do realise I know everything that's happened here for the past month or two? And besides, Dana knows I have a thing for Jill, and even gave me a load of advice for getting with Jill yesterday. But sure, stay and tell me things I already know." His knowledge of playing the game in his world finally became useful for once, thankfully.

"Oh? Seem to recall that before she gave you any advice, she looked at you as if you were a dangerous stalker following Jill, am I wrong?" Anna explained, calling out a flaw in Rei's argument. She then noticed how angry he was currently, responding with "My, my. You're so intimidating. I might have to go tonight and tell Jill how obsessed you are with her." It seemed immediately apparent that this was a war Rei couldn't win. Anna simply had the upper hand.

Rei's eyes snapped open, full of fear and shock, shaking even more. He didn't have something over Anna now, and now she was willing to prove that she'd ruin Rei's life when needed. Trying to continue to talk via thoughts with a pained expression, Rei frantically said "A-Anna, please, if you do that, I-I'll lose everything. My home, my friendship with Jill and everyone, everything." He even started to cry as he knew Anna could do what she wanted with him.

"'Attaboy. See? You're starting to get it. Now, repeat with me. In case you didn't realize it after that. Youuuu neeeeeeeeed meeeeeeeeeeeee." Anna said, requesting Rei to follow her order, sticking her tongue out in a teasing manner all the while.

Continuing to talk via thoughts, Rei angrily responded, saying "You need me." begrudgingly, becoming pretty pissed off and upset as he was pretty much a slave to Anna now, clenching his fist with an angry expression. He wished she wasn't like this, able to do anything she wanted while also being able to only be seen by him, Jill and no one else.

Anna smiled wickedly once again, happy that Rei followed the order, replying with "Wasn't so difficult, isn't it?" Anna then giggled and stopped looking at Rei as she moved next to Jill on the counter and looked at her instead. Talking with Jill now with a concerned face, she said "You know, Jo? I kinda feel bad for that kid. First night and you send him all alone to that table to get bored. You're cold." Jill seemed to react to Anna's words and looked at Rei blushing a bit, muttering something he couldn't hear. She then cleared her throat and called him to the counter, saying "Rei! Come over please!"

Hearing Jill call him, Rei instantly came over to her as fast as he could, saying "S-Sorry!" thinking he was ignoring her, also wiping his tear stains that had formed earlier from the Anna incident, looking like a mess.

"It's been a quiet night once again. Don't know what I expected. How are you faring though? Sitting alone over there must be really boring and well, you looked pretty upset about something. You ok?" Jill said with a concerned face. She could tell something was happening with Rei at the moment, which would explain his slightly messy state such as the tear stains, but she didn't know what was wrong. Thankfully she didn't know Anna was just talking with him.

Clenching his fist, silently cursing Anna, Rei quickly responded with "I-I-I'm fine..." which was obviously the opposite to Jill given his anxiety in saying such. Being forced as a slave of some kind for Anna really didn't sit well with him, given that he had to do anything she said otherwise she'd just tell Jill about his love for her.

Jill opened her mouth to answer with a concerned face asking "Are you sure you're-" but before she could say anything more, Rei's vision went black. Someone placed their hands over his eyes, followed by a familiar voice. "Awww Jill, you are a meanie! You didn't even call to say you got yourself a new cute assistant at the bar!!!"

His vision going black suddenly from some unknown source, Rei freed himself as fast as he could and jumped back, hiding behind Jill, now shaking due to the very sudden scare. It wasn't exactly pleasant.

A concealed squeal came from behind Rei as he freed himself. As he turned around and looked, there was a small Lillim on the ground. It's Dorothy. He knocked her to the floor as he broke free. "Wow... if he's this energetic when scared, I shudder while considering what he can do between the sheets." Dorothy said, making the usual sex joke.

Realising it was Dorothy, someone he knew from outside knowledge aka playing the game, he stopped tensing up and sighed, though tensed back up after her saying what she did about sex, not wanting her to make things awkward and make both him and Jill uncomfortable, should she make an obvious joke about the two of them being a pair or something else.

"Oh, come on Becky. Don't mess with him. It's his first night working in Va-11 Hall-A and he's going through a lot at the moment." Jill said, trying to inform Dorothy about Rei, not wanting her to mess around with him too much.

Dorothy then walked up to Rei and pressed herself against him unexpectedly with a sly smile, making Rei freeze and blush, saying "Is that so? Then you are hereby granted the VIP membership. I can give you a big discount if you want to have a goo..."

"BECKY... ENOUGH." Jill could see Dorothy was making Rei pretty uncomfortable and raised her voice, making Dorothy sigh and walk back, pouting and saying "Fiiiiiiine.... you're a party pooper, Jill." in a disappointed voice.

Only hearing Jill get this mad one time before with his outside knowledge which scared him a ton back then, Rei jumped back noticeably and instantly started to shake, unable to say much, clearly scared of Jill now. An angry Jill was *not* a nice sight.

Jill took a deep breath with a concerned face and almost unconsciously, she prepared a Piano Woman, quickly passing it to Dorothy, talking to Rei. "S-Sorry about that, Rei." Rei being suddenly scared from her raised voice caught Jill off guard, making her feel bad for scaring an innocent person like him. Continuing as she sighed, she said "This is Dorothy. A good friend of mine. Though she can be a bit..." [Dorothy]: "Charming? Enchanting? Fairy-tale like?" [Jill]: "I was gonna go down the slutty, brash and horny path, but yeah, fair enough."

Dorothy then looked at Jill with a suggestive look and then to at Rei, whispering "She's just angry I didn't show her my expertise when I stayed at her ap..." [Jill]: "Becky... I swear to god I'll lock you up with a shiba-inu next time you show up." Dorothy then went pale for a second in response and shook her head in compliance.

Rei couldn't take all this arguing between Dorothy and Jill, it was too much for him. He always personally extremely hated seeing people argue and fight, it just made him very anxious and scared every time, which obviously didn't help with his fragile emotions. And this was worse, seeing Jill constantly be mad, someone who was mainly always so nice. He then screamed "SHUT UP!" and instantly rushed to the bathroom, hiding in one of the stalls as he sat down, taking a few moments to focus on breathing and collect his thoughts. He just wanted to hide in the first safe place he could think of, away from that scary situation.

Jill saw as Rei quickly disappeared with a scream and gasped with a shocked face, prompting Dorothy to apologize, saying "I-I'm sorry Jill. I was just trying to joke around. Didn't want to..." Jill then shook her head in response, silent for a moment, replying with "...Don't worry Becky. It's my fault too. I shouldn't have teased you in front of the new blood."  
Dorothy then looked down, fairly embarrassed, asking "Should I...?" Jill shook her head in response, saying "No... leave him be. He just needs some time alone. I'll try to explain later. Meanwhile, enjoy your drink, you teasing minx." They then both chuckled silently, worried about Rei.


	6. Existence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Friends are important.

Rei continued to stay in the stall for as long as he wanted. All that arguing between the two, Jill being extremely angry, Anna forcing him to be a slave, his existence and everything regarding it in this world, etc. It just all went through his head at once, overwhelming him. He just wanted to go home at this point, he even didn't care about Jill for a few seconds, crying audibly.

A familiar voice then appeared, trying to unusually calm Rei down, saying "You do realize they were messing around, right? They weren't really angry or fighting." Anna then floated around him and sighed.

In the most angry voice he could, filled with emotions as he just wanted to be left alone completely, trying to deal with the overwhelming thoughts and emotions in his head, especially from Anna, Rei replied with and almost shouted "Leave me alone or I will fucking make you relive that truck accident all over again." He didn't need Anna of all people here right now, at all.

"And how do you plan on making that happen? Will you drive a cyberspace truck against the bar? Jee... Look at you. You're a mess." Anna said as she looked at Rei sideways. And this time there wasn't a hint of humour in her eyes.

"Is this who you really are? A bitter person that prefers to threaten others instead of blending in and understanding? Because let me tell you, if that's how this is gonna be, I'm going to make my best effort so you never even get remotely close to the people you care about. So you better pull yourself together, or you're going to be out of Va-11 Hall-A before you can bat an eye." Anna then disappeared through the wall, leaving the ultimatum/warning with him.

And with that, the ultimatum/warning broke Rei, he couldn't take any of his circumstances anymore. He had to leave this world, he just had to. This was nothing but a cruel world for him and everything around him just hurt him. He didn't even care about Jill for a while. He then rushed out of the bathroom and headed to the roof of the bar, just standing on the roof, looking into the sky, desperately trying to figure out a way to get back home, on the verge of breaking down.

After a while, the hatch to the roof opened up followed by Gil, wondering who or what came up here. At first, he didn't notice Rei. But when he did, he saw that he was affected by something and came close, tactfully as he can see he was barely emotionally stable and could be in danger, softly asking "Umm... Rei? Are you alright?" to try to calm him down.

Rei didn't want to say anything at all. There had to be a way to get home, to get out of this hellish existence, there had to. He kept thinking hard, shaking and also trying not to cry in the process, completely ignoring Gil and anything he said or did.

Gil then sighed and stood beside Rei, looking at the sky too in silence as he waited for him to calm down a bit to talk and to make sure he didn't lose it.

Suddenly, Rei broke the silence, asking "Gil, have you felt like you've never belonged here?" in a complete monotone voice. At this point, he just wanted to see if Gil was like him, and once felt like he was feeling now. He wanted someone to relate to.

Gil chuckled at his comment and his face darkened a bit, replying with "For years, actually. I felt like I didn't fit in, at all. Though, I got over it."

Rei then replied with "I've never belonged here. At all." in a serious tone, not being able to think of much with his current emotional state.

Gil sighed at what Rei said, responding with "Come on, lad. No one belongs here. This is Glitch City. Look around you." Gil sighed again as he looked to the sky, continuing his speech. "Corporations rule the world and we are but mere puppets for them to play as they see fit. Your family? They don't give a fuck. Your needs? They don't give a fuck. You identity? They don't give a fuck. You're just a number. A spot on the immaculate white of their suits. No one belongs here, my friend. Absolutely no one. But luckily, we're not alone. And even in the face of that hellish realization, there's people out there that can make the misery worth going through. If you let them, of course."

He wanted to reason with Rei and make him understand that it was okay to feel like he did, as this was a pretty messed up city, one that shouldn't exist, but there was a silver lining though. Good people and friends.

"I... guess so." Even though he had known all this already, Gil's words somehow managed to make Rei cheer up a bit, going from completely sad to just neutral. I guess the people at Va-11 Hall-A which he knew for so long and finally met were the key to fixing all this, for him to actually have a normal life here at least.

Gil then noticed Rei getting less sad and smiled warmly at him, presenting a question to him, saying "Think of it this way... Would you rather be a lost soul in a world of lost souls that stick together? Or a lost soul in a world where everyone has found their way but you? Because I sure as hell prefer the former." He then punched Rei lightly on the arm in a friendly way.

Rei had nothing to say as he proceeded to look down and think for a moment. Maybe this hellish existence wasn't so bad after all? He just needed time to be closer to everyone in this bar, so they could support him and maybe even somehow get him back home in the far future. Once he had finished though, he turned to Gil, saying "Thank you." and even hugging him with a soft smile, proceeding to head back into the bar after.

"Don't mention it, pal. That's what we're for." Gil replied, happy that he was able to help Rei's current mental state somewhat, and appreciated the hug from him, smiling in response, seeing him go back into the bar after. Gil then took a second or two to think about Rei's future of working in the bar and if he'd be okay, then headed back into the bar too, to do whatever.

As Rei went back into the bar, he noticed Jill talking with Dorothy over at the bar, not seeming to realise he was there at all at first. Though not wanting to interrupt them, he went back to the table he was once was at, and continued to look bored and sad but not as sad as before as he kept replaying Gil's words throughout his head, even starting to smile now, thankful for his help.

Before Rei even realized however, Dorothy was sitting in front of him with a big sugar rush on her hands and a big smile. She then gave him the drink and smiled cutely, explaining "Jill told me this is the drink you asked for when you first came. I wanted to apologize for my behaviour earlier. I can be a bit brash sometimes. Didn't want to make you feel bad, Rei."

She wanted to show that she was sincerely sorry for the incident between her and Jill earlier that made Rei snap, and clearly Jill felt the same way, having told Dorothy Rei's first ever drink in this bar and to make it big in the first place, assumingly on the house.

"...Thank you." is all he said, before smiling slightly and taking the drink, though too depressed to drink anything at the moment. He wish he didn't look like a mess and an embarrassment in front of Jill, but Anna was partly to blame for that, among other things.

"No problem! I hate seeing people be sad, so please be happy!" Dorothy replied, with a cheerful face, going back to the main part of the bar where Jill was. Jill then looked at Rei with a warm smile, seeing the state he was in but knowing that either her, Dana or Gil would be there for him. He worked here and was a great person after all as far as she knew.


	7. Downtime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A boring night.

As Dorothy kept talking with Jill, Anna suddenly appeared yet again in front of Rei, smiling as spoke to him. "Well well, looks who's happier... I guess Gil really cheered you up, huh?"

Rei, a bit surprised to see her again so quickly, responded with "We... had an important talk. It helped me a bit, I really needed it." He then wanted to scold Anna for leaving that ultimatium with him earlier as a threat but he knew she'd threaten to do something in response.

Suddenly, Dana came into the bar. "Sorry I'm late Jill, stupid traffic today. And hey Rei, hope you're enjoying your new job." She then remembered what she planned to say. "Everyone, I have an announcement to make! Please welcome our new employee Rei!"

Even though everyone already knew, Dana just wanted to make Rei feel better by giving him affection and attention from everyone. Jill and Dorothy then stared at Rei with a warm smile while Gil probably also smiled as he heard that, doing whatever.

Rei blushed at the smiles directed at him and looked away as he start to drink his sugar rush, making Dana chuckle a bit in response as she went into her office.

Anna continued to talk to Rei as she almost laughed, saying "You're quite popular~" in a teasing tone. "Maybe I should push it further~" She then suddenly floated to Jill. "Rei's quite popular today isn't he? Hehe, maybe you should see how he's taking his first night of work so far."

Jill started to blush at Anna as she proceeded to call Rei over. "Rei, come over here would you?" Anna was always able to mess with Jill however she wanted as she smiled, observing Rei and Jill now. She loved being a tease.

Hearing Jill call him, Rei jumped a bit, finishing his sugar rush, proceeding to go to her as she asked "How's your first night of work so far?"

Rei quickly responded. "It's... been eventful to say the least, and I wanted to say sorry for my outburst earlier, I just have a bad fear of arguing and stuff, even if it wasn't that serious between you and Dorothy." He then sat down on one of the stools, facing Dorothy and Jill.

"Aww, don't worry about it Rei, I'm probably the nicest person you'll ever meet!" Dorothy said, smiling happily at Rei.

"Tsk... I'll let that slide for now." Jill said under her breath in response to Dorothy, then proceeding to say "It's okay Rei, I shouldn't have teased Dorothy in front of you in the first place."  
"I'm over it now. Anyway, *yawn* is work always this boring?" Rei already knew this but he was bored to death thanks to work, so he tried to make conversation with Jill while Dorothy had a smile.

"More or less, yeah. But now that you're here and as a new employee, it'll be a bit less boring." Jill liked Rei's company as she smiled.

"A cute employee at that!" Dorothy took the chance to butt in, wanting to say something nice about Rei as she kept smiling.

"I appreciate it Dorothy, you're cute too." Rei wanted to compliment the Lilim, making her smug about it.

"Anyway, so uh, I've started to have nightmares now. Last one I had, I woke up screaming. I thought someone was in my apartment." Rei proceeded to change the subject to something that was on his mind currently, wanting to talk about it.

"Jeez, sounds scary. I'm glad you're okay Rei." Dorothy said with a concerned face, followed by Jill also saying "Same here, they can really mess with you."

"I know, it feels like I'm going to just have all bad dreams from now on, it isn't the best thing to think about." Rei only had 1 nightmare so far since appearing in Glitch City, but even so, he always worried about a lot of things which he couldn't help.

"*sigh*, I'm sorry, I'm gonna go talk to Dana about something, be back soon." Rei needed someone more serious to talk to outside of an environment like this. He just couldn't get thoughts of his own world out of his head too which had been bothering him all night along with other things, and Dana was the best person he thought to talk to about serious topics.

"Don't worry about it, have fun." Dorothy and Jill responded, seeing Rei off as he stood up and started to walk to Dana's office.

Once at Dana's office, Rei knocked on the door, followed by Dana saying "Come in." from inside.

As Rei came in and sat down on the first chair he could see, Dana asked with a smile "Oh hey Rei, you need anything?"

Rei tried to make Dana remember her offer of help during the car ride home yesterday, saying "No, I just wanted to talk to you like you brought up yesterday when you took me home."

"Ah, alright. What did you want to talk about?" Dana remembered what Rei was referring to, happy he took her up on that.

"Well, work is fine so far, though there's been an incident or two with me running away from Jill and Dorothy arguing, or me being in a really bad state on the roof which Gil helped me calm down from." Rei wished to vent his personal troubles so far at Va-11 Hall-A.

"Feel free to explain, I won't stop you." Dana replied, with a soft smile, realising that something serious had happened with Rei, so she'd happily let him vent.

"Well, Jill and Dorothy started to argue a bit once Dorothy showed up and started being her usual self around me, and then after a bit Jill got kinda mad at her making me uncomfortable. I'm quite scared of people arguing so I ended up screaming and hiding in the bathroom when it got bad."

"Then after all of my emotions and current problems came to me at once in there, I couldn't take it and ended up going to the roof so I could just try to think about stuff, then Gil showed up and made me feel better about being in Glitch City and not feeling like I belong here."

"Well, I understand, people can have it pretty rough in this hell of a city, though fortunately what keeps people together is the fact that some stick together, like me, Jill and Gil. It's how this bar has lasted so long." Though Dana did get fairly sad hearing this, as Rei has clearly had a horrible night so far.

"Though that reminds me, how did you get to Glitch City? It seems like you just appeared in the city one night and went to Va-11 Hall-A, you don't have to say anything though, it's fine." Dana was still curious of Rei's origin but obviously wouldn't pry and make him feel worse.

"I... can't say. Word would spread about how I got here and eventually I'd be killed and/or thrown out of your bar with nowhere to go. I don't even trust Jill with my secrets." Rei unfortunately still felt the same way about his secrets, still safeguarding them tightly out of fear.

He just thought people would think he didn't belong in the city, or that people would harass him for info about his origins if the secret would spread, as stupid as that sounded. Though his bad anxiety was to blame for making him worry a lot about everything, especially since this is only his 2nd night in Glitch City, still coming to terms with being here all of a sudden.

"*sigh* I guess you have fair reasons to whatever you're hiding, it's fine, I shouldn't pry from someone like you. Anyway, how's Jill and Gil treating you?" Dana could tell Rei was starting to get upset, so she quickly changed the subject to something else.

"They're fine, Jill is a nice person and Gil is someone I can actually relate to which makes me happy." Rei was thankful Jill and Gil were so nice to him so far in his first night of work.

"Good to hear, working is less bothersome when you're with people you like. And Jill and Gil are good people too, so some nights aren't that boring." Dana was happy Rei was fitting into his first night of work with the rest of the crew somewhat. Company is good.

Rei tried to think of something to say in response, but nothing came up besides things he couldn't say. "I'm sorry Dana, I wish I could think of more things to talk about with you, but it's just more secrets as I said and it'd just do nothing but harm me."

Dana decided to give Rei an offer, to try to help him before he eventually breaks down from keeping all his problems inside of himself. "Rei, look, tell you what, at the end of your shift, how about you walk with me and at least tell me one thing you can get off your chest so it doesn't bother you? Because from what you've told me so far, it's just been building up inside of you, and I don't want it distracting you or Jill while working and worrying either of you. Keeping it all inside of yourself isn't healthy."

Rei decided to accept Dana's offer. "*sigh* Fine, I guess..." He didn't want to be rude to her by declining her attempt to reach out and help him.

"Good. And I'll be sure to remember, don't worry. Anyway, I guess you should get back to work now, Jill might need help with something, I don't know." Dana didn't see any other things to talk about, and saw that this current conversation was now wrapped up.

"Alright. And Dana? Thanks for talking with me, it helped a bit." Rei really appreciated this small talk with Dana about his time at Va-11 Hall-A so far as well as his personal issues. It was like yesterday where Dana did the same thing, giving advice about him and Jill.

Dana then had a warm smile, replying with "No problem!" as Rei left the office, going back to work.


	8. Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You can't hide them forever.

While Rei went to Dana's office to talk to her, Jill talked to Dorothy a bit more, then leaving after paying for the Piano Woman from earlier.

Gil then came in the bar from another room, seemingly from cleaning. "Jill, got a minute? I need to talk to you about Rei."

"Sure." Jill had some free time now that Dorothy left and she was by herself.

Gil then sat down on one of the stools, starting to talk to Jill about Rei. "I saw Rei on the roof earlier."

Jill raised an eyebrow wondering what Gil meant, asking "Why?"

"I don't know, he was just standing there. I tried to ask if he was okay but he didn't respond, and then eventually he started talking about how he felt like he didn't belong in Glitch City at all." It was clear Gil was now talking about the roof incident with him and Rei.

Jill's eyes widened as her heart sunk. "...Christ, was he planning to...?" She asked, thinking the worst for Rei, since she knew he wasn't that emotionally stable overall ever since coming to Va-11 Hall-A.

Gil quickly reassured Jill that Rei's life wasn't in danger at the time, dismissing any thoughts of such. "No, thankfully."

Jill breathed a big sigh of relief hearing this, saying "Thank god."

Gil then proceeded to explain what else happened with Rei on the roof to Jill. "I managed to calm him down a lot though. I told him how most of us get by here, by having friends and knowing you're not alone, and so on. Eventually, he started being a bit more happier and even hugged me."

"Good. Thank you for helping him at the time, I mean it. He really doesn't deserve anything he's going through at the moment." Jill was thankful Gil was there at the time to make sure Rei didn't do anything dangerous to himself as she thought about his mental state, feeling pretty bad for him.

"Yeah, he seems like a good person. And did anything happen that made him go to the roof? I just went up there to see what or who went there and then I saw Rei." Gil never knew why Rei was on the roof in the first place, just that he felt like he didn't belong in Glitch City, but thought that Jill might've known.

Jill explained her perspective of the time of Rei's meltdown, talking about the incident with her and Dorothy which set Rei off in the first place. "I didn't see him go to the roof, but Dorothy was here earlier and started messing around with him, and I got a bit out of hand scolding her for it and he ended up running into the bathroom screaming. I just assumed he was overly scared of people fighting."

"Well, that explains it. Where is he now?" Gil was worried for Rei still, and was confused as to where he was if not on break.

Jill answered, explaining where Rei was, and why. "He's in Dana's office, he said he needed to talk to her about something."

"I guess he's talking to her about his problems at the moment." Gil assumed that he went to Dana for help regarding his personal problems, since Dana did take care of Jill once or twice during some stressful moments.

"Let's hope. Though I'll talk to him about it when he gets back." Jill then decided to bring up the roof incident to Rei when he came back from Dana's office, planning to express her worries to him, also hoping what Gil said would be the case.

"Alright, cool. I'll go back to cleaning." Gil then had said everything he wanted to say to Jill about Rei, wanting to go back to work now.

"Got it, have fun. And thanks for telling me about Rei." Jill was thankful Gil told her about the roof incident with Rei, as she now knew and understood the full story of Rei's recent outburst, and planned to comfort him like she said.

"No problem." Gil then left and returned to his working, followed by Rei coming in from Dana's office shortly after.

As Rei went back to the bar, he noticed Dorothy wasn't here anymore, prompting him to ask "Did I miss anything?"

Jill then answered his question, explaining "Nope, not really. Dorothy's just been the usual, same for her job. And she just left."

"I guess that's to be expected. By the way, what's the time?" Rei was curious how much time had passed since his first night of work started at Va-11 Hall-A, and wondered how long was left until it ended.

There wasn't a clock in Va-11 Hall-A, so Jill estimated an answer to Rei about the current time, saying "About 1-2 AM?"

"We've been here for like 3 hours? Christ, time can really fly by when you're not bored." Rei knew he was here for a while, but not this long, and attributed it to things actually happening instead of being bored.

"True. Though as you know, work is pretty much always boring here in Va-11 Hall-A. By the way, Gil talked to me about something." Jill decided it was time to talk to Rei about the roof incident Gil just told her about.

"What happened?" Rei was curious what Gil talked to Jill about, wondering if it was about him.

"He talked to me about your incident on the roof. And Rei, I'm gonna be honest, you're going to break down sooner or later. Why don't you talk to me about it? Because clearly a *lot* of things have been bothering you, not just your housing situation." Jill was clearly worried about Rei and also sad. She knew that a lot of things had been bothering him and wanted him to talk about it instead of being so secretive before it would all explode inside of him like recently.

"*sigh* Jill, all I can say anymore about my problems is my secrets, and them getting out and spreading would kill me like I told Dana about just. I can't." Rei was as defensive as ever regarding his secrets, and was still very anxious about them becoming common knowledge.

"Look, if someone like you had secrets big enough to get you killed, you'd be dead already." Jill tried to reason with Rei at this point, thinking that he was being a bit too dramatic seeing as he was still alive with these secrets he had, given anyone with big secrets in Glitch City would be killed by someone pretty quickly.

"Well, I'm new to Glitch City, so I can't know that for sure." Even after Jill trying to convince him to not be so scared guarding his secrets, he was still unsure, given his origin was an extremely weird one.

Jill then sighed, having failed to convince Rei, but tried to find a silver lining by asking "Did you at least tell Dana about your problems when you were in her office?"  
"No, but she offered to walk with me at the end of my shift to talk about at least one of my secrets to get it off my chest. She was worried about me and I didn't want to be rude, so I accepted." Rei wanted to explain what happened in Dana's office, telling Jill about a silver lining she hoped to find in the form of a walk with Dana post shift.

"That's something at least, I hope it goes well and you end up a bit better." Jill smiled, wanting Rei to know that she hoped that his talk with Dana would go well and that he wouldn't be as weighed down by his secrets anymore at least.

Jill then decided it was time for a break. "Anyway, I'm going on break, wanna come? You deserve one the most." She wanted Rei to come with her, as he'd been through a lot today and deserved it.

"Sure, I'll be there in a bit." Rei agreed to going on break with Jill, but wanted to talk to Gil about something first.

"Dana, I'm going on break with Rei! And Gil, take over for me!" Jill then shouted for Dana to know that she was going on break, and for Gil for him to take over. Dana and Gil then both replied. "Sure!"

As Jill went out the back for her break, Rei waited for Gil to appear before going out as well.

As Gil went to the bar to replace Jill, he noticed Rei was still here, making him ask "Oh, hey Rei. Weren't you going out on break?"

"I am, but I just wanted to say, thanks for telling Jill about the roof incident with you and me, I mean it. I don't think I would've been able to tell Jill most of the things that've happened to me today." Rei wanted to say thanks to Gil for telling Jill the things that had happened to him today, as he wouldn't have had to courage to do it himself.

"Don't mention it, that's what friends are for right?" Gil said with a smile, acknowledging Rei's thanks.

Rei then gave a smile back to Gil and proceeded to start his break with Jill outside.

"Man, it's cold." Rei didn't expect it to be this cold outside, even after being outside yesterday since appearing out of thin air in Glitch City.

"Want my coat?" Jill noticed Rei was cold, and proceeded to offer him her coat since it was obvious he didn't own anything due to being homeless and only recently having a home, thanks to Dana.

Rei declined, not wanting Jill to be cold and being rude by doing that. "Nah, it's fine. Being able to see more of Glitch City than I used to know makes it worth it anyway. And it's somewhere new to be at least." Though, he felt like enduring this cold was worth it in exchange for more views of Glitch City, since he barely knew anything about it other than what the game told and shown him.

Picking up on Rei's "somewhere new" line, Jill proceeded to ask "So you're a tourist? Is Glitch City that well known in other places?" She was curious how much he travelled and the popularity of Glitch City elsewhere.

"Well... I guess so." Even though he was from another world, being a tourist was half right for Rei, as he always wanted to be here in a dream or some other form and move from where he lived.

"Still, I can't help but feel bad for you, being homeless for however long in Glitch City." Jill wanted to compliment Rei for actually being able to live in somewhere like Glitch City without somewhere to live for seemingly a long time, proceeding to continue with a smile. "It's not as dangerous as it used to be thanks to the White Knights being gone, but you should be proud of yourself for surviving this long without a home."

The compliment made Rei give a warm smile to Jill, appreciating what she said. "Thanks Jill, that means a lot."

Jill then smiled back in response. "No problem."

A few minutes then passed of silence which was awkward to Rei, while Jill smoked a cigarette. Rei then tried to talk about the first thing he could think of to break this silence.  
"So, what's your favourite drink Jill? I'm curious." It was another thing Rei already knew from his game experience, but he had to think of something to talk about to not make this awkward silence even longer for himself.

Jill then proceeded to answer fairly quickly. "Beer. I have an implant that lets me drink a lot without getting drunk, it's neat." 

Jill's implant was something Rei forgot about, so he was happy he got to remember a piece of cool info about her, then proceeding to talk about his favourite drink.

"Sounds nice. And well, I guess my favourite is Sugar Rush, even though it was the only drink I ever ordered since coming to Va-11 Hall-A, and the first time I ever drank one. Though, I'm wary of trying anything else because it might taste horrible and I'd have wasted my money then."

"Well, you never know until you try, right?" Jill was right, you never know if something was bad until you tried it, with exceptions of course, and she wanted to open Rei up to more types of drinks.

"I guess so. *sigh*" Rei just thought that buying anything optional in Glitch City would be a waste, like how he played the game, just wanting to be absolutely sure that he'd have enough money for rent to still survive.

Jill then noticed Rei shivering as he started to clearly get pretty cold. "Rei, you're shivering. You should go back inside before you freeze to death." She didn't want him to stay outside and get hurt, and she didn't want to offer him her coat only to most likely get denied again out of his selfishness and consideration for her.

"I'm sorry, I just didn't want you to be bored and cold by yourself." Rei apologized, feeling bad for Jill always being alone on breaks with just a coat and a cigarette. He then followed her advice, agreeing to go inside. "But if you insist, I will."

"No need to apologise, I understand." Jill wanted to make it clear that Rei wasn't doing anything wrong, and was fine with him going back inside. "Have fun with Gil."

Rei then went back inside, giving Gil a bit of a surprise, making him ask "Hey Rei, ending your break so soon?"

Rei answered, explaining why he wasn't outside for that long. "Nah, I'd probably freeze to death out there if I stayed out too long, so I might as well continue it inside."  
"Fair." Gil answered, understanding Rei's reason.

Rei then sat down on one of the stools in front of Gil, bringing up a question he was curious of. "Do you usually get so little clients most of the time? It feels odd to see this bar so empty most of the time when I've always heard it to be the opposite."

Gil answered Rei's question, talking about the state of the bar in the past and it changing. "Not anymore, but it used to be like this before the bar started getting somewhat popular thanks to Kira Miki and other people."

"Oh right, I remember that. Honestly, I prefer it like this. It's a nice bar and it being overcrowded and whatnot would make it lose it's charm. It's a place where you can relax and drink and talk to whoever's here." Rei liked the bar the way it currently was, with not many people at all, and it also being quiet. And in all honesty, he believed Va-11 Hall-A being an obscure bar gave itself a sort of uniqueness.

"You have a point." It was easier for Gil or Jill to work this way, being able to deal with individual clients and talk to them with ease, rather than with multiple people at once.  
Rei then yawned, prompting Gil to ask with a smile "First night on the job's been long hasn't it? Though I don't blame you given what's happened."

Rei agreed with Gil, having been through a lot for one night, saying "Yeah, it's been rough. I just want to get paid so I can eat something and go home to sleep."

"Oh right, Dana gave you a home and a job because you were homeless right?" Gil remembered what Dana did for Rei yesterday, and was happy he was lucky to be saved by Dana. "I remember her telling me that. You're lucky."

Rei proceeded to explain his happiness at the miracle Dana gave him, and his happiness of also having a job at Va-11 Hall-A in response. "You're right. I was really grateful at the time, which she appreciated. And I was pretty happy to be able to work here too." 

Gil then noticed Rei was fairly nervous in the form of small shaking, compelling him to ask "Rei, you look pretty nervous, what's wrong?"

Rei was unfortunately still worried about revealing one of his secrets to Dana very soon once his shift was over, and tried to explain to Gil what was happening with him currently. "I'm just... worried about the talk I'm going to have with Dana after my shift. When I was in her office, I agreed to her offer to walk with me after I finished my shift, so I could get at least one of my secrets off my chest to her in private to make myself feel better. I didn't want to look bad by declining so I accepted it, and I guess I trust her the most out of everyone here given how she's helped me."

"Well, you don't need to be so anxious, it'll be better for you in the long term." Gil understood how Rei felt, but also understood that not having things constantly weigh you down would always be good for you. He believed he'd be fine after the talk.

Rei tried to think the same way, but was still fairly anxious, saying "...Let's hope."

Jill then returned from her break, taking off her coat and putting it somewhere. "Thanks for taking over Gil, anything happen?"

"Nope. I just talked with Rei." Gil explained, the bar being as dead as ever.

"Alright, cool." Jill didn't want to miss any possible new clients like Rei, so she was happy.

Gil then left to do whatever, saying "See you, Rei." with Rei smiling in response and Jill being back behind the counter again.

Jill then noticed Rei was nervous, like Gil did, prompting her to ask "What's wrong? You're shaking."

"*sigh* Jill, have you ever been overly nervous of something happening to you in the future?" Rei still had anxiety over the future talk with Dana, wanting to talk about it with Jill like he did with Gil.

"Hasn't everyone?" Jill chucked trying to joke, but then remembered the situation with Gabby, being extremely worried of what would've happened when she came back to Va-11 Hall-A after the letter post arguing. "In all seriousness though... yes. I understand how you're feeling. "

"That talk with Dana will happen soon and I'm scared of the outcome, I don't know what will happen." Rei really was like Jill was in that specific event, though he didn't realise it fortunately.

Feeling Rei was getting more anxious, Jill quickly tried to comfort and reassure him, saying "Rei, it'll be okay. Dana is a nice person and I can tell you're not a harmful person, so you can trust your secrets with her at least. Don't worry."

"*sigh* I really hope so." Rei really did hope it would all turn out fine.

Some time then passed of nothing happening between Rei and Jill, and it was time for Dana to close up shop again, coming out of her office. "Time to close up shop again." Dana said to Rei and Jill, then saying "Gil, time to leave!" followed by Gil replying. "Alright!"

"I'll be ready soon Rei, then we'll have our talk." Dana then started to clean up the place to make it ready for tomorrow as usual.

As Gil was leaving, Rei hailed him. "Hey, Gil?" making him stop and turn around to Rei, asking "Yeah?"

Rei then hugged him, saying "Thanks for helping me today."

"No problem." Gil said in reply, the both of them having a smile, along with Jill who was watching, thinking it was sweet. Gil then left, saying "See you tomorrow." with Rei and Jill doing the same.

While Dana was still cleaning, Rei approached Jill and asked "You gonna wait with me again?" with Jill saying "Sure."

They then sat down next to each other as Rei turned on the TV on the wall for some ambience and something to watch, and proceeded to break the short silence between him and Jill. "Jill, I'm still worried."

"Well, the only thing you need to do is to just get through it, then it's over. And Dana will probably understand one of your secrets and why you chose to hide it. She's a supportive person as you know." Jill knew the talk was very soon, so she tried her best to comfort Rei beforehand.

"Yeah, you're right. *sigh* You know, my barring all the bad things that happened to me today, my first day at Va-11 Hall-A wasn't that bad. I got to work with you and Gil, met a new client in the form of Dorothy, and so on. Just being here with you and everyone makes me happy." 

Rei was anxious yes, but the fact he was here as an employee in Va-11 Hall-A, with Jill, Dana and Gil, really helped his anxiousness when he thought about it. It was like his dream was given to him in full. He even started to cry about it from happiness.

Jill instantly noticed Rei crying, quickly asking with concern "Rei, you're crying? What's wrong?"

Rei tried to explain to Jill why he was crying as he smiled, saying "I'm just... really happy to be able to work here and also be able to survive. It's almost like a dream."

"I wouldn't go that far, but considering your situation, I understand. Me? I'm just happy there's someone new here at the bar who's a really nice person I can talk with to not be bored." A new employee never hurt after all, so Jill meant what she said to Rei.

Hearing Jill's compliment about himself, Rei blushed, proceeding to look away as he said "T-Thanks."

Jill then chuckled a bit in response. "No problem. You remind me of a pretty similar person who came here before. Was fairly anxious about himself but was pretty nice overall. Also liked bikes."

"Mario, right? Yeah, I can see why you'd think we're similar, thanks for the compliment. By the way, how do you get paid? I barely know anything about Glitch City, same for this digital only money thing." It was a question that suddenly came to him, since the game never explained it to him in the first place, and thus it was a good chance to ask Jill herself about it.

"Well, I guess Dana just opened some account for you after yesterday that lets you use money via that card you have. I've never thought about it myself." Unfortunately, Jill didn't know much either and never thought about it much, but she still explained what she knew to Rei.

"Oh, I see. Thanks for telling me." Rei now knew how he would get paid, and wouldn't need to worry about it anymore thankfully, proceeding to change the subject by asking "So... I haven't told you much about myself since being here have I?"

"Nope." Admittedly, it was both their fault. Rei's for not opening up more, and Jill's for not thinking to inquire about him. But now things would change.

"Well, you know my name of course but... I feel like you should know that I suffer from depression, as well as anxiety and autism." It was hard for Rei to say such personal stuff, but he felt like Jill should know the things he was suffering from for her to understand him more.

Jill sighed, fairly sad that someone like him had mental issues that serious, prompting her to say "I'm sorry Rei. No wonder you've been in a bad state today, but it's not your fault at all. I hope you'll at least have a better night tomorrow here." She then gave him her hopeful wishes for a better tomorrow.

"I really hope." Rei also wished that tomorrow would be good or at least better than today, as this first night of work wasn't fine at all for him or his health.

Dana then came into the main part of the bar, finished from all the cleaning, asking "I'm finished, you ready Rei?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Rei was as ready as he could be really for his first night of work to end and the talk about secrets with Dana to happen.

The three of them then walked out of the bar with Dana putting on her coat along with Jill. However, Rei saw Anna behind him for a split second, giving him a wink as if to say good luck. Dana then started to close and turn off everything in and around the bar.

Once Dana was quickly finished, Jill then decided to go home. "See you tomorrow Dana, Rei. And good luck." Proceeding to light a cigarette that was bright in the cold dark night.   
"You too Jill." Dana and Rei said, parting ways as they started their walk.

Dana and Rei were then walking together in the streets of Glitch City, with Rei shivering from the brisk cold which was unfortunately a staple.

Dana noticed the audible shivering coming from Rei, making her say "Here, take my coat, you won't be able to think if you've frozen to death." as she offered him her coat.  
Even though he didn't want to leave Dana to be cold, Rei knew she was tough and could take it much better than he could, proceeding to put on the jacket, thanking Dana. "Thanks. I feel much better."

Dana decided it was time to bring it up. The talk with Rei was about to happen. "So, about your secrets, are you sure you're ready to tell one of them to me?"

"...I am." Rei then stopped and leaned against a wall and started to explain. "I'm new to Glitch City, as you know. But, I don't know how I got here."

"So, you were kidnapped?" Dana tried to think of how Rei got to Glitch City with a raised eyebrow, but couldn't come up with many reasons.

"I'm sure that isn't the case, thankfully." Thinking about being kidnapped was not a nice thought to Rei.

"Then how did you get here?" Dana then popped the question, leaving Rei to answer.

Rei then made a long sigh, preparing to reveal his origins as he started to get very anxious. "Dana... I-I..."

"It's okay, take your time." Dana knew Rei didn't have to do this, but still tried to comfort him with a warm smile as this was his choice and she'd support it.

Tears welled up in Rei's eyes as he tried to keep a serious face to Dana but barely, hoping she'd take him seriously. It was then time to say it.

"I'm... from another world."


	9. Truths

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Honesty is the best policy.

The short silence after Rei confessed felt like forever to him, as this was a quite tense and serious moment.

Dana meanwhile was surprised and taken aback, almost at a loss for words. Though, she eventually proceeded to talk.

"You're... really serious? ...I don't know what to say."

As for Rei, he let Dana process his secret, not saying anything in response as he tried to keep a serious face but was still fighting back the urge to cry. He said what he needed to, so it was too late for regrets now.

Dana decided to ask for more clarification, still confused about Rei's origin. "But, how did you get into Glitch City if you're telling the truth?"

Rei complied, feeling as if more info wouldn't hurt, given that Dana now knew one of his secrets. "I... went to sleep one day in my world and I woke up outside of the bar. I thought it was a dream for a long while, since it really felt like one, and I always wanted to dream about being in Va-11 Hall-A."

Dana's eyes went wide upon hearing Rei's explanation in realization. "...No wonder you have nothing, it all makes sense now... God."

A few tears started to form in her eyes. "I've never met someone who's been given such bad circumstances. Thank god I decided to give you a job at Va-11 Hall-A the night you got here."

Rei smiled slightly, thinking back to the event as well. "I'm still thankful for that, don't worry about it."

Dana then thought to ask a serious question. "Should... I tell Jill and Gil about this? I don't want you to be hurt even more by having to keep concealing one of your secrets to them after you ended up telling me."

Rei agreed, feeling like it was pointless to keep this specific secret hidden from Jill and Gil after telling Dana now. "Feel free. I can trust them two as well. But please, make sure this doesn't end up spreading. There's no telling what would happen to me if it did."

Dana easily complied with a smile, feeling Rei was fair to think that. "Alright, don't worry. I'll make sure."

Rei sighed, having nothing else to say. "That's all I'll say for now. I... don't want you to be overwhelmed." One of his secrets was now known to Dana, and revealing another so soon wouldn't have the best outcome.

Dana nodded in agreement as Rei gave her coat back, proceeding to walk to the skytram station, wanting to go home. "See you tomorrow."

Dana replied. "You too."

The both of them then smiled at each other before parting ways for the night.

Rei soon arrived at the skytram station, deciding to just go straight home as he waited. His first night of working at Va-11 Hall-A was a literal mess, from Anna using him, to a massive breakdown for many reasons, and so on. He just needed some time alone and most importantly, some sleep.

Once arriving home, he instantly went to his fridge, devouring the first kinds of food he could see and guzzling down the nearest form of drinks right after. He was dying of starvation and dehydration all night, which Jill probably noticed when they were on their break.

As he finished getting back all his energy from all of that, he started to relax, putting his wallet in his bedroom as he turned on the nearby TV in the living room, stretching and yawning loudly, as today exhausted him.

After, he moved to the massive window in his living room and sat there, looking at the good view of Glitch City he didn't really get to savour yesterday, starting to think about earlier events.

He had told Dana one of his secrets now, and soon Jill and Gil would know. Though he felt it was mostly fine, he at least trusted Dana to not let this secret spill out. Although, he started to get worried about how they would react tomorrow at work. It would at least be pretty awkward on both sides.

He then sighed, trying not to think about it anymore. He'd hopefully worry about it when he'd get there, not before.

But, he also couldn't help but think about when he was going to reveal his other secrets. Being able to see Anna, Glitch City being in a game in his world and his love for Jill.

The Anna secret would surely freak Jill out no matter what and would probably make her pester him for any info she could get about Anna's condition, and although he'd get closer to her as a result, it'd be just as a research partner, so that was a no go for the near future. 

The secret of everything being just a game for him in his world would most likely make Jill, Dana and Gil lose it and probably question their existence, so that was also a no go for the near future as well.

As for the loving Jill secret, he thought back to his first night in Glitch City, with Dana's advice as she drove him to his new home, with her warmly telling him to "live your own life and don't overthink" and "be yourself" if he wanted to have a relationship with Jill in the future, and he promised to follow all her advice that she said at the time back then.

After thinking about each individual secret, he sighed, thinking 2 of the 3 would be impossible to ever reveal without substantial backlash, but at least there was a silver lining, possibly having a relationship with Jill in the future, regarding the 3rd secret.

His mind switched to another topic as he felt it was just stressing him out at this point. He had a thought to try to show off his bartender skills from his knowledge of Va-11 Hall-A via the game he knew. Though, it was risky because of that, but it'd also make him more liked in the bar from being talented, and it'd show him working hard instead of being forced to do nothing all night waiting for Jill to need help with something, so it was worth a shot.

With nothing else to think of, he closed the large window in his living room and turned off the small TV next to him, preparing to go to bed.

However, before he started to take off his clothes to put in the washer, he suddenly checked a lone wardrobe in the bedroom, discovering that it had some clothes in, thankfully. He didn't need to wear the same clothes every night now and look boring. Though he still put his current clothes in the washer, so they could be stored away once he woke up and wear the other clothes.

Once that was all done, he went to his bedroom and quickly got in bed, eventually falling asleep, thus ending his 2nd night in Glitch City.


	10. Adjusting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Secret's out, time to adjust.

Another night to wake up to. This was now his 3rd night in Glitch City since randomly arriving here.

As Rei slowly got out of bed while stretching and yawning hard, he looked at the clock on the wall. 8:30 PM. It was almost 9.

"Fuck." He was going to be late. Work started at 10. He forgot to set his alarm for 8 PM like he did the last time he slept.

In a hurry, he got out of bed and took a quick shower, putting on the best clothes he could find from the wardrobe afterwards, along with putting his previous clothes that had finished being cleaned from last night somewhere so they could dry.

Once that was dealt with, he started his usual morning routine such as cleaning himself up, additionally starting to eat breakfast, constantly checking the time, since being late to his 2nd night of work wouldn't look good to Dana. After finishing eating, he quickly got it out of the way, choosing to deal with washing things up when he got back.

Suddenly, he remembered from last night to somehow take food/drink with him to work, but wasn't sure how. Looking through the wardrobe again, he found a small bag, probably left there by accident by the person who lived here before. From further searching, he found a coat that was his size.

To find both these things was pretty lucky, because it now meant not possibly dying of starvation or dehydration at work, nor freezing to death outside when on break or otherwise.

While trying on this coat, it thankfully fit, and in addition it felt good. Keeping it on, he got his bag and took some food and drink from the fridge to store in there for work, putting the bag on too. Once he was ready to leave, he got his wallet and locked up the place with his keys, heading to the skytram station outside.

In the meantime after arriving at the station, thoughts about Glitch City began in his head. Would it really be safe to just roam around and explore the city with how bad it's has been with the White Knights and everything? They were disbanded which helped, but the city still felt dangerous to him. Ceasing to think about it, he groaned, choosing to just think twice about not going straight to bed when he'd get back home.

Later on, he had finally arrived at work via the skytram like yesterday, it now being 9:30 AM. He didn't know the time currently, thus rushing into the bar fearing he was late and would be scolded by Dana, almost falling over in the process.

Jill, Dana and Gil were all talking with each other at the time, and were caught off guard by Rei's sudden entrance into the bar. Rei quickly apologized while he leaned against the wall to catch his breath from rushing in. "S...Sorry I'm late."

Due to Rei's arrival, the three stopped conversing, with Dana being the first to talk, smiling at Rei's enthusiasm to get here on time. "Don't worry, you're not."  
Suddenly, Jill walked up to Rei, randomly hugging him. "Try to take it easy, you're from another world after all."

The sudden hug from Jill was pleasant, making Rei blush while gladly accepting it with slight confusion as to why the hug happened. Although, he jumped back a bit upon hearing what she said, quickly asking Dana "You told them already?"

Before he got here, Dana did indeed tell Jill and Gil about Rei's origin like he approved of yesterday when talking with her outside of the bar.

Seeing Rei's surprise, Dana chuckled while proceeding to confirm his question. "Yep, you're more interesting than Mr Fuckboy over here now."  
Gil sighed as he heard Dana's joke, but also laughed a bit inside. "Could you stop calling me that?"

This little interaction made Rei chuckle alongside Dana, although he now wanted to voice a worry he had. "Anyway, I... hope none of you think less of me for my origin. After all, this happened to me out of nowhere."

Speaking for Gil and Dana, Jill responded with a smile. "Don't worry, we won't. There's no reason to. You're a nice guy and you work here after all."  
Furthermore, she tried to joke to cheer up Rei, just like she did the first night he was here. "And you clearly don't deserve the situation you've been put in. As I said, all shades of screwed."  
Hearing about Rei's origin made all three of them feel bad, deciding to treat him with care from now on, hence Jill's hug.

Rei breathed a sigh of relief hearing their approval. "Thank you. I mean it."   
He was worried the three of them knowing that he was from another world would make them see him as weird and thus their like of him would decline. His anxiety was to blame as usual for his worries though.

Jill's smile grew upon Rei's thanks for their acceptance. "No problem. We're here for you after all." It was only fair to treat him with care given his circumstances of being stuck in Glitch City.

Meanwhile, Dana quickly looked at her phone for the time, speaking up. "10 PM, it's time to open for the night, get ready for work."  
Setting the bar up, she opened the main door, turned on the neon sign outside, also turning on the rest of the bar lights after going back inside. "I'll be in my office if you need anything Rei."

Rei nodded in acknowledgement in response, with Dana leaving to her office. Afterwards, Jill went behind the counter as Gil sat down on one of the stools.  
During, Rei stored his coat and bag on the farthest away stool to be out of sight, subsequently proceeding to sit on the stool adjacent to Gil after turning on the music player and TV to add some ambience to the place.

Breaking the current silence after Rei sat down, Jill felt like she should ask something about his origin, so she and Gil could know more about him. "So Rei, what's the world you're from like?"

Rei was surprised Jill asked something like that so soon, but replied anyway. "Well, from what I know of where I live, it's at least less dismal than Glitch City, and also missing all the neon stuff of course."  
Suddenly, he stopped for a second to think about an important detail. "Now that I think about it, I might have even ended up 50 or so years into the future from my own world, who knows?"

Jill and Gil were surprised. Was this person they knew who was from another world actually from the past of their world instead? It could be possible, anything could, so it wouldn't be fair to rule it out.  
Gil was the first to respond hearing this new theory. "Wow... That's something." Followed by Jill. "You're telling me. Never thought I'd meet a time traveller."

Quelling their excitement, Rei clarified while shrugging. "As I said, who knows, because I obviously don't. As Dana told you, I just went to sleep one day in my house and ended up outside this bar, thinking it was a dream until something happened. I might be from the past, I might be from another world, I might be dead, you tell me."

Thinking about the theory more, Jill got curious. "Wait, if you're from the past, how do you know about Glitch City? I know it hasn't been here for that long."

Rei instantly became anxious upon hearing Jill's question. He couldn't reveal the secret of Glitch City just being in a game for him in his world without things going very bad for himself, as he thought about yesterday just like the other remaining secret. "Jill... if I told you, you wouldn't believe me. I seriously can't say. It'd just hurt me, more than the secret you already know ever would."

1 secret had already been revealed, but Jill didn't want Rei to go through all the anxiety he faced yesterday regarding it again so soon, so she retracted the question upon hearing what he said. "If it really is that bad of a secret and worse than the one you've told me already, I guess I can't force you."

With Jill moving on from her question, Rei's anxiety quickly eased up, sighing. "Thank you." He tried to change the topic quickly after. "Anyway Jill, I thought about something yesterday, and I want to try being a bartender for the night."

Jill's eyebrow raised. "Are you sure? Didn't know you had experience." Though, she didn't know much about Rei in the first place unfortunately so she let him go through with it. "But if you're sure, then go ahead."

Rei was confident of his own experience from playing the VA-11 HALL-A game. "Don't worry, I'll probably be able to make a drink or two with what I know." Subsequently going behind the counter next to Jill.

Suddenly, it hit him. It was like he was in VA-11 HALL-A itself, in regards to being in the exact viewpoint of Jill in the bar in most of the game, making him cry out of happiness just like yesterday as he looked away. Even though he had been in Glitch City for 3 days now, this specific moment was special to him.

Hearing Rei crying, Jill turned to him with a concerned face, wondering what was wrong as she asked "Rei?" with Gil also being concerned, confused as to why he was suddenly crying.

Rei tried to reply, startled by their concern as he attempted to stop crying. "I-I'm sorry. As I said, I'm just... really happy to be working here." It was like exactly like yesterday, right before work ended with Jill waiting with him.

"Don't sweat it, it's just a normal job. But I understand why you're happy." Jill didn't know the true reason as to why Rei was crying out of happiness, but she just assumed it was because the job gave him somewhere to live along with a source of money.

Suddenly, Gil thought of a nice idea for Rei. "Oh. Rei, since you decided to be a bartender now, how about you try making a drink in the form of training?"

Hearing Gil's offer really reminded Rei of the VA-11 HALL-A tutorial with him teaching Jill/The Player how to make a drink. It was like it was happening all over again, making Rei smile while asking Gil what type of drink would be his first to make. "Good idea, what do you want?"

"Let's keep it simple, try a sugar rush. It's the most basic drink there is." Gil didn't want to overwhelm Rei with an advanced drink, and decided to start with a basic one instead, since properly making a Sugar Rush was a basic requirement for being able to become a bartender after all.

"Coming right up. Time to mix drinks and change lives."  
Jill and Gil were both caught off guard by Rei's random joke, as they wondered for a second about how he knew that specific phrase that Jill always said. Though, he just wanted to say the iconic line himself for fun.

Moving on, Rei thankfully knew the way to make the sugar rush off the top of his head, it thus being pointless to look it up in the CALICOMP, proceeding to pick up the nearby adelhyde and powdered delta, trying to shake some of it in the mixer like a bartender would.

After mixing for a second or two but not for too long to avoid making it blended by accident, he poured the contents into a glass that he brought up from under the counter and served it to Gil, hoping his game experience helped in the process of making his first drink at Va-11 Hall-A.

Gil started to drink the sugar rush upon receiving it from Rei, tasting the sweetness as expected, being surprised as well as impressed at the result, pointing it out. "Hmm, not too bad for your first sugar rush. Nice job."

However, Rei felt like he didn't do that good of a job for his first drink. He just hated doing things badly in front of people and thus looking like a failure. "I'm sorry, I'm just worried of messing up and wasting your money." His anxiety did him no favours.

Suddenly, a thought came to Gil. "By the way, does sugar rush exist in your world or something? You managed to make that without even referencing the recipe book." To him and Jill, Rei had never been a bartender before, so the good result was confusing.

"Pretty much... It's a really popular drink over there as well." A sugar rush was the most popular drink surrounding the VA-11 HALL-A game after all, so Rei was telling the truth.

"Heh, that's nice to hear." Moving on to focus on Rei's doubt over the sugar rush, Gil continued talking. "And don't worry about the sugar rush, you'll get better with practice. Hell, you might end up being better than Jill one day." He didn't feel the same way as Rei, and thought he had potential with his good first drink, comforting him along with also joking.

Jill chuckled at Gil's funny idea of Rei becoming a better bartender than her. "We'll see about that." But who knows, ever since his origin got revealed, anything could happen.

After a few minutes, Gil ended up leaving to work on something as he was bored, and the first client of the night came in. It was Dorothy again.

Upon seeing his first client of night since working at Va-11 Hall-A, Rei proceeded to ask what Jill usually asked, to a new client. "Welcome to Va-11 Hall-A. What may I serve you?"

"You don't need to be so formal Rei, it's only me after all!" Dorothy laughed afterwards, as Rei sounded like Jill when he said the phrase, thinking their similarities were funny.

"S-Sorry Dorothy..." Rei couldn't help it, he really wanted to also say this other infamous line that Jill always said. It was both for fun and to make himself feel better, as he was working in this very bar with her after all.

"Don't worry about it. But if you insist, piano woman." It was Dorothy's favourite drink after all, and was probably all she ever drank at this bar.

Rei had forgotten hence why he asked, and was thankful she responded. "Oh right. piano woman. I'm stupid." He thought to himself.  
The only drink recipe he knew off the top of his head was a sugar rush sadly, making him ask Jill for help. "Jill, some help here? I don't know how to use this CALICOMP thing in person."

"Sure." Jill proceeded to guide Rei on how to look up the piano woman recipe on the CALICOMP, now knowing how to make it afterwards with Rei thanking her. "Thanks Jill, you're a lifesaver."

"No problem." Jill was happy to help Rei as best she could, so he could get used to bartending to serve people alongside her and Gil.   
She was also happy that Rei was making his first proper drink for a client, adding "You're on your way to becoming a true bartender already, see? You’ve even picked up my welcome line." as he prepared to make the piano woman.

Rei smiled happily hearing Jill's praise. He really was becoming a part of the bar wasn't he? It was nice.

Afterwards, Rei started to make the piano woman with doubt, seeing as it needed a lot of ingredients along with needing to be aged. It was a lot of factors. From a sugar rush to this was a big jump but he'd try his hardest as usual. Once finished, he served the piano woman to Dorothy, aplogising for how long it took compared to Jill's speed of making said drink. "Sorry for taking so long."

"Don't worry about it! You're a cute new assistant working with Jill after all~ You might even be employee of the month one day!" As usual, Dorothy was being cute, friendly and flirty all at the same time.

Upon hearing the compliment, Rei blushed. "T-thanks..." Dorothy was always nice to talk to, minus the sex stuff of course. It made him happy hearing a cute voice from a cheerful person like her.

Dorothy chuckled seeing the blush, asking something that came to her. "By the way, how did you get a job with someone as cute as Jill? You're pretty lucky."

Rei quickly looked to Jill for an answer on whether or not he should tell the truth to Dorothy, to which she shrugged in response, as if to say "It's your choice."

Dorothy was a Lillim that had seen literally everything in her line of work, and thus wouldn't be surprised at all, and thus it was pointless for Rei to hide his 1st secret from her.  
"I... came from another world."

"Wow, really? First time I've ever heard something like that, even with my job and dealing with so many people." Dorothy was right, you'd see many types of people with a job like that. You couldn't imagine the many things they'd asked for from Dorothy.

Rei was unfortunately unintentionally getting anxious from having revealed his secret to Dorothy, to which Jill quickly noticed as she stepped in, continuing the conversation.

"Yeah. Apparently, he went to sleep one day in his world and the next thing he knew, he was outside Va-11 Hall-A. And of course, he didn't have anything with him when appearing here, except for his wallet and his clothes obviously, and Dana ended up giving him a place to stay in return for working here."

Suddenly, Rei butted in. "I was really thankful to Dana for helping me, and will always be. I pretty much owe her my life." He didn't want to look like he was ungrateful for Dana's help at the time, worried that Dorothy would think that for some reason. His anxiety was messing with him as usual.

"I wouldn't go that far." For a few seconds, Jill thought back to the first day Rei was in the bar with Dana giving him a home, and being pretty moved by his hug of appreciation to the point of almost crying. "But, I was shocked. Never seen Dana like that before when you hugged her."

Hearing all this new info about Rei, Dorothy got excited. "Wow, you're really interesting! Sounds like a fairytale." It was a passable analogy.

Rei quickly smiled, proceeding to lean on the counter while listening to Jill and Dorothy continue to talk with each other.   
Diverting his focus to the TV that was currently showing the news, he realised that Jill was right.

Work was pretty boring.


End file.
